Gentle as a Gust of Wind
by Cur.Tam.Seria
Summary: Korra isn't the right kind of Avatar, and she doesn't seem ready to do anything about it, so the previous Avatar's take things into their own hands. Korra must win her bending back with one catch: she is in Avatar Aang's time. ...This was begun when the Legend of Korra had just come out...
1. The Storm

**Korra's Point of View**

_Tenzin was staring out into the distance again. Again! We were traveling on sky-bison to the old Southern Air Temple, and despite his orders to meditate, I'd done anything but. Tenzin, on the other hand, could just stare off into the abyss of clouds like nothing was wrong! Meditation is so boring. I wish I was back in Republic City with Mako and Bolin. We could be having fun, beating up other benders, joking around, you know, the works. But instead Tenzin deemed it more appropriate to just stare off into clouds like 'Ooh! I'm going to bore poor ADHD Korra out of her mind' and take me on an educational trip to the Southern Air Temple. He claims it's historic. It has some special meaning to the Avatar. Yea, well this Avatar likes the City. Holy firebenders, I am bored. _

I looked up from the journal entry and off into the clouds, I still could not see what was so appealing to Tenzin about staring into nothingness. I sighed, and went back to my writing.

_I am so frustrated, all the time. Usually everything comes so naturally to me, it just happens, but now airbending is just causing me so much trouble! Well, at least I can bend. Non-benders seem so down. But they are nasty, too. The whole non-bending revolution thing that's happening is really throwing me off. I am soooo glad I am a bender, even if I have to learn to airbend. I wish I was back in the City with Mako and Bolin. We could have a fight, them against me. And I could get my tail whooped while having fun. Those guys are really good benders. And Tenzin says I also have to work on my spirituality. He says my bending is only half-complete if I master bending; I have to be all airbender spiritual about it. Damn. I really just wish I could have a break. Beat up some fighters. _

"Korra." I jumped at Tenzin's voice. Damn. He'd stopped his staring thing. He sighed. "Korra, Korra." I opened my mouth to speak, but his sharp glare shut me up pretty quickly. "Korra. You need to start focusing on the spiritual side of your bending, and meditation is the gateway to that." He sighed, frustrated. "Sometimes I just can't believe you! You must learn airbending, but you resist all attempts to do so. I hoped this trip would help, bring out some of my father in you, but all you have done the entire way, despite my wishes for you to meditate, is write in that wretched journal of yours." He glared at me some more and I looked ashamed at my hands, in which the said journal still lie. Suddenly, a gust of wind ripped it out of my fingers, and sent it catapulting into the seething ocean below.

"You did not just do that." I glared at Tenzin, furious.

"Meditate, and I will get you a new one." He got up and went to the head of his sky-bison to take the reins. Usually Ammo just drove himself, but there were black clouds on the horizon and Tenzin didn't want to risk anything. I sighed and went back over to the corner of the large saddle, as far away from Tenzin as I could, and sat down, facing away from the angry man and towards Ammo's large tail. I closed my eyes and tried to clear my mind.

_I am calm, like the gentle wind. I… calm…gentle…wind…I…wind… _My thoughts drifted away softly as I attempted to achieve a state of mediation.

Crack! I startled awake from the trance as a bolt of lightning zipped through the sky like a vicious spear. Lighting was one of the forces of nature not even a bender could tame, not anymore. Bending lightning was a lost art. I was caught up in the beauty of the bolt, but was snapped out of it by Tenzin's rough growl.

"Damn storm!"

I looked up, and the black clouds that had only been in the distance what seemed like a few seconds ago were now above us, below us, and around us, threatening to dump water all over us. And those nasty clouds carried out that threat. Tenzin was trying to weave his way through all the wind patterns that only a master airbender could see when the first droplet fell. And not far behind that was the second, pretty soon I'd lost count of the number of wet pellets stinging my skin. Tenzin was having a hard time bending the wind away from Ammo, and when I tried to create a shield of water around us to help keep us dry, it failed. My bending wasn't working right, I couldn't feel the water. What was happening?

"Tenzin!" I called out at the top of my lungs. "I can't bend right!" He didn't hear me. "Tenzin!" I yelled louder.

**Tenzin's Point of View**

"Tenzin!" I heard Korra scream my name, it must have been as loud as she could manage, but it was still as faint as a whisper to my ears. Why wasn't she bending us a water shield? I turned around trying to catch a glimpse of the girl. She was unfolding her legs from a meditational pose and trying to get to her feet. I shook my head as vigorously as I could manage, and she got the message. The wind was too strong, it would strike her off her feet. Instead, she got down onto her belly and started crawling her way towards me. The idiot. I shook my head again, but she just kept crawling. I turned my face back to the wind patterns in the sky, and ducked under a strong bit of wind that would have blown me off my perch.

After a few minutes of precarious flying, I felt a tug on my robe. Korra. I turned to see her struggling upwards, trying to come closer. To me, her mouth was working, but the syllables were being taken away with the wind. She hoisted herself up, and made a lung for the spot beside me. I reached out my hand to catch her as she flew over… over… and too far to the side. With a furious scream, Korra was taken by the wind and pulled away from Ammo. Away from me. Into open air. Without a glider and airbending skills. The look on her face was one of shock and surprise as she began to sink into the black clouds.

Korra. Korra. Korra was gone. She was falling. And the sky was clearing up. The clouds were floating away and dissipating, the winds calming rapidly, giving me a view of the Air Temple in front of me. Korra was gone.

I landed as quickly as I possibly could, then ran to the sanctuary of the Avatar. I threw open the doors and ran up to the statue of my father, and did the only thing I could do. I prayed. I prayed the Avatar State would have kicked in and allowed Korra to live. I prayed she would come here safely. I prayed she would listen to me in the future. Please let Korra be alive. Please let Korra be alive.

After a few minutes, an eerie blue glow filled the room. I looked up to find the statues all glowing along airbending marks. Aang. Roku. Kyoshi. Kuruk. Yangchen. They were all there and more. Then a detached figure stepped from the statue of my father. It was no more than a ghost. A spirit.

"Tenzin." It was in the shape of Avatar Aang, but it spoke with the voices of all the Avatars. I looked up into its eyes, which were the same glowing blue as the rest of the being. The Avatars. All of them. All of them but Korra. I nodded. "Korra is alive." I let out a breath I had no idea I'd been holding.

"Th… Thank you." I stuttered.

"We said alive. Not here now. She is in a new place, learning to be a better Avatar." I started and opened my mouth to say something, but thought better of it. "We guarantee she will be worthy of becoming a fully realized Avatar when she gets back." The being murmured again. It's voice was powerful, yet soft. It spoke to the soul gently. "Do not fear for her, Tenzin." I nodded again.

"Do not fear for her." But where was she?


	2. The Winter Solstice Means Avatar Roku

**Korra's Point of View**

"For the love of waterbending," I groaned loudly. I was lying on the ground… ground? It had walls… I was on a sky-bison saddle! I sighed, Tenzin had probably saved me; I was going to get a big ole' lecture on my irresponsibility. I closed my eyes. Maybe he hadn't heard me. Then I felt step coming towards my miserable corner, and I sighed again. "Tenzin, I feel like a rock, please don't make me get up. I don't want to meditate or whatever torturistic activity you have planned." I was whining, but Tenzin would get over it.

"I'm not Tenzin." A deep, gruff voice responded; my eyes flashed open to take in the hostile scene. There was a sixteen-ish boy standing right above me, attempting to loom over my poor, unprotected body. He was failing. He was also holding a sharp weapon-like thing in one hand, it had a blunt blue stone set in it, and he was glaring at me like no tomorrow. Dressed warmly, and in blue, he looked like a waterbender. His oceanic eyes narrowed when he saw mine open. I gave him a quick, sarcastic smile, then I launched into action. My leg flew through the air, swung at just the right angle to knock the weapon out of his hand, and force his body to stagger to the right.

"Don't threaten me." I stood up to my full height, and looked around. A waterbender girl was in the corner, blue eyes wide, and an airbender kid had turned around from driving the bison. I didn't recognize him. "Where are you from? The Northern Compound?" I glared at them all, but none of them showed any intention of answering. I whirled to face the girl, she was frightened, but unhesitating. "Who are you people?" The question stung my tongue, and I felt tears welling up in my eyes. Where was I? Whose bison was this? Who are these weirdos? Why am I here? Where is Tenzin? "Where am I?" I whispered, and none of them made any response. "Where am I?" I said, stronger and louder.

The airbender's face went from confused and hostile to slightly sympathetic. "You… you fell from the sky," the girl spoke in a strong and powerful voice. It was just slightly familiar. I must have looked extremely confused, but she made no move to explain further. "My name is Katara." My eyes flew open wide. Katara?

"Katara!" The waterbender guy called out, his low voice cracking and going high. "Don't tell the enemy your name!"

"That idiot over there is Sokka." She smiled.

"And I'm…" Don't say it… Don't say it… Don't say 'Aang', or I am going to die. How is this possible? "Aang." I noticed the kid had airbending master tattoos. I struggled to stay calm but it only took a matter of seconds for darkness to claim me again.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

I woke up in the saddle again, but this time made no vicious attack. Katara was standing over me, a worried expression on her face. "Are you okay?" She inquired, and I groaned again as I sat up.

"I just had the weirdest dream…" Then I realized it was Katara. "Holy mother of earthbending!" I screeched, and jumped back a foot, ramming my back into the side of the saddle and my feet drew up to my chest. "This isn't happening…" I moaned. "This isn't happening…" I was rocking now, and shaking like a leaf. Then I stopped, looked up, and glared. "Tenzin put you all up to this didn't he?"

"Tenzin? Who is he?" The waterbender guy, 'Sokka', looked at me funny. If it weren't for the look of genuine curiosity on his and Katara's face, I would have slapped him. If this was all really happening… If it was true… And I was with Avatar Aang back in his time… Then when I tried to bend that shield… "My bending!" I stood straight up and tried to feel the tug of the ocean beneath me. It was strangely empty, there was no feeling. Yue and La, the Moon and the Ocean, they had abandoned my. I looked up towards the sun, and didn't feel the tug toward Agni's fiery depths, either. Even though there was no earth anywhere near here, I knew I wouldn't be able to find the Rock Spirit Yan. "No. This can't be happening, it isn't possible." I muttered under my breath. I turned towards the head of the bison, looking at Katara and Sokka, and Aang, all of whom had turned to look at me. Katara opened her mouth to ask a question, but I never let her get to it. "Where are we going?"

Aang answered. "Well, I need to go to the Fire Nation, to the Fire Temple, and contact Avatar Roku at the winter solstice. I'm… I'm kind of the Avatar." I gulped. Then it was true.

"Don't let me stop you, in fact, I'm going with you." I stated firmly. "I have a bone to pick with Avatar Roku." Aang's confusion was evident on his face. "Don't ask." I sighed. "Sorry if I was rude. I… I don't know, well, anything." I paused for a moment, attempting to let it all sink in. "My name is Korra." I smiled.

"You are a bender? A waterbender from the Northern Tribe?" Katara's face had lit up.

"Um… I can't really…" I broke off. "My bending won't work." I finished, looking at the ground, and I felt a salty tear I hadn't noticed leak out of my eye drip into my mouth.

"Why?" She asked, her brown eyebrows scrunching together.

"I… I don't know." I sighed again. This was going to be a long trip.

**Aang's Point of View**

"Roku. Roku!" I called, asking for my predecessor.

"I'm here, Aang." The voice was from behind me, and I turned to see Roku on a small hill in the spirit world behind me. "Aang, there is much you need to know." He gave me a wry smile, and I tried to respond. "There is a comet coming, Aang, the very same comet that Fire Lord Sozin used one hundred years ago to wipe out the air nomads." He stopped and let it sink in. A comet? "The comet gives firebenders the power of one hundred suns, and it is quite a day." He smiled. "The past Avatars are worried Fire Lord Ozai will attempt to destroy another nation, perhaps take Ba Sing Se, we have no idea. What we do know, is that you must try to defeat him before the comet comes. And you must master the elements before that time." My face must have showed my extreme astonishment.

"Aang, you can do this. This is why Korra is here."

"Korra? She said she had a bone to pick with you."

Roku laughed. "I imagine she does. We, as Avatars, plucked her out of her home and all that is comfortable, and shoved her into a new and unfamiliar situation without her bending." I gulped, and looked at him.

"You took away Korra's bending?"

"Yes. You see, Korra isn't from this time. Korra is the next Avatar of the cycle, and she has no grasp of the spiritual side of bending, only the physical bending and fighting. She can help you learn, and you must help her gain her bending back, one element at a time." Not from our time? Korra is the Avatar?

"We are supposed to work together?" I asked.

"Yes, Aang, my time here grows short. Trust Korra, she will help you. Goodbye, Aang." I watched Roku drift away, and the elements of the physical world came back into play, Roku's statue, the empty room I was in. The official solstice was over. And I had to learn waterbending. With the help of Korra. The next Avatar in the cycle. Who wasn't in her own time. Who couldn't actually bend. What is the world coming to? I ran towards the doors, but stopped as I heard grunts from the outside.

"Well, well, Prince Zuko. It seems you have led me to a might prize, a banished prince and traitor, along with the Avatar." It was Zhao. I gulped. And Zuko. He probably had Katara and the others chained up somewhere. I shook my shoulders, and prepared myself for a dramatic entrance.

"Aang… As a parting gift." I felt Roku enter my body… then I could see. Really see. Everything was in perfect clarity and shining, crystal like. Roku controlled my body, which was taller and stronger now. He opened the doors.

Zhao had Zuko cuffed behind the back, and Zuko had Katara and Sokka chained to a post. Korra was nowhere to be seen. Roku began bending, sending the Fire Sages on their knees, then flying through the air like a broken doll. Zhao's eyes were wide and fearful, but he was still strong in commanding his men to exit. Roku felt the lava deep below the Temple, and called it forth, mixing it with a form of earthbending that was shattering the Temple from the inside out. Zuko had escaped out the window, and Zhao was leaving. Korra dropped from the ceiling and cut Katara's and Sokka's chains with a knife, then motioned towards the window. 'Get out' she mouthed, and Roku pulled forth the lava again. Katara reached out towards me and Roku, refusing to leave. She should leave, she can't stay, not when Roku is pulling the place down. Roku finished. The lava was called forth and nothing was stopping it now. I was me again, and Katara and Korra rushed forward, grabbing me and holding me up. I was falling down, there was no strength left in my limbs. Korra shook her head, then reached down and picked my body off the ground, to Sokka and Katara's wide eyes. Then she ran… ran… she was running out the window… Katara was screaming something… and Korra let out a high-pitched whistle. A bison call. Of course she knew a bison call. They felt the tower tipping, and they jumped onto hard land that was actually just a ledge… they ran over the ground… then they were flying, the jump turned my head and I couldn't see anything but Korra's brown hair until I felt a thud and Korra dumped me on Appa's saddle. She said something and Appa started to fly. I blacked out.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

"He was delirious, that can't be healthy." Katara was muttering.

"Don't worry, he'll be fine. Look, he opened his eyes." Korra spoke that time.

"Korra. You…" I winced as the words tingled my parched throat, Katara rushed over to give me some water. I drank greedily, the cool water trickling down my throat in delightful streams until the skin was empty. "Roku told me about you." She froze, and turned.

"And what did Roku tell you?" Her eyes narrowed, like she expected some hostility.

"He told me he took away your bending. And that you needed to help me learn."

"Anything else?" She wasn't as worried now, and she took a deep breath.

"He told me you are going to be the Avatar." She winced, and looked at me.

"Look, Aang."

"No. I understand. It's not your fault. But you have to help me." I stopped, and let that sink in. "Roku took you out of your own time to help me, and to help you. You are supposed to relearn the elements and their spiritual side with me. Before the comet comes." She nodded.

"That I can do. When can we start?"

"As soon as I can get up." I tried to stand, and winced. For all the airbenders, my muscles hurt!

**DISCLAIMER: I always forget this. I own nothing. Not even the computer I am typing this on. **


	3. Of Scrolls and Swords

**I am happy with the response I'm getting to this story, so expect much more Avatar-y goodness. :) Thanks to the people who reviewed: **15dragondream- **Thanks for the support 3 you for it!**, Sunny Lighter- **Yeah, me too. When I saw that there was about _one_ Korra/ATLA crossover I nearly had a panic attack... so I decided to write one :P ,**** and **The Blind Sniper -**Whoa! Thanks! Sweetness! I really am at a loss for words! Whoa! Thanks!**

* * *

**Korra's Point of View**

"So you are like some futuristic-Avatar?" Katara asked. I sighed and nodded.

"I don't think it is that simple. Right now, I'm not the Avatar, Aang is, and I can't even bend." I hung my head between my legs, squeezing it with my knees. We were on Appa again, and were flying towards the Northern Tribe; they were still an independent nation, not a member of the Union; that still managed to baffle me, there are **four** nations here. The others had been pestering me for answers, futuristic predictions. I moaned. "I wish I'd payed more attention to my history classes…"

"What do you mean?" Aang's small, smiling face jumped into view.

"I can't, for the life of me remember how this ends. I can't give you strategies, I can't tell you what works and where to avoid, I can't even tell you if you do end up defeating the Fire Lord!" I exclaimed. "For all I know, you could have been imprisoned and busted out when Ozai died." I couldn't remember… anything. Not anything of the time after.

"It's probably an Avatar trick, so you can let me do this on my own…" Aang broke off. He'd counted on getting some valuable tactical information from me, I suppose.

"Whatever it is, you and Katara need to learn waterbending." I smiled as best as I could. "So we need to go someplace with water."

"Well, that river over there might work!" Katara cried out, trying to get on with it, she was a really eager learner.

"That it will," I turned then yelled out to Appa, "Take us to the river, Appa." Appa and Ammo were so much alike, they were both sweet and really nice souls. I swear, the only good thing about airbending is the sky-bison.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

"Katara. Don't get frustrated." Aang cheerfully called, "You just have to twist your wrists like this." He demonstrated the wave perfectly, snapping his wrists.

Katara opened her mouth to speak, she was fuming and her face had turned the color of a gushy tomato. "Katara." I said totally calm. She turned towards me, ready to pour out her rage. "Katara, cool down. I knew you, and I knew what you could accomplish." She looked at me funny, I really didn't know what I was saying. I could remember nothing about Katara's life. "Now, try taking a waterbending lesson from a girl who can't bend." I walked up to her and grabbed her hands. "Flick your wrists upwards." I pulled her hands back. "Now you try." She was looking at me like I was the devil himself, stopping her from lashing out with all her anger on Aang, but she did it anyway. Her wrists snapped upwards in a perfect flick, and a rushing wall of water came up to meet her astonished eyes. It was roaring overhead when she couldn't hold it any longer, and dropped it, a full ton of water, all over me and her.

She giggled gleefully, soaked to the bone. "Thanks." I sighed.

"Thanks not!" Sokka came clambering up, he too had been his with the resulting wave. "You just practiced all our supplies down the river." And with a glare he pulled himself out of the water and up to Aang. "Dry me off." Aang responded with a blast of airbending that made all Sokka's hair stand on end. I giggled, and so did Katara. Soon, we were both on the ground, laughing hard.

"I haven't laughed this hard since… Well since I got here!" I'd laughed like this with someone… Mikki? Mack? Those stupid Avatars, taking away my memory! And he had a friend, Boko? Or was it Moko and Bilin? I can't even remember the names of my friends!

Katara and I were laughing the entire way to town, sharing funny water-bending jokes and giggling at the stupidest things. It was just like having a real friend, someone I could remember. I hate those idiotic Avatars, what do they think? I'm just going to come back and say, 'Yay for the Avatars who took my memory away and sent me years and years back in time' because I guarantee that won't happen. Suddenly, being the Avatar isn't so appealing. I hate to think that in five hundred years, I will be doing this to some poor soul.

Once we got to the market place, Katara suggested we split up, as we only had three copper pieces left and we all had to make the best of it, Sokka and Aang would look for the food and stuff like that, while Katara and I searched for soap. That was the plan, until Aang revealed he had spent a copper piece on a bison whistle.

"No offense, Aang, but I'll carry the money from now on." Katara sighed. This was barely enough to get food, and we still needed soap, no way were we just going to go without… gross!

"Earth-Nation! Water-Nation! As long as bargains are your in-clination, stop on by; don't be shy!" There was a rough looking man standing beside a ship, trying to sell his wares. He obviously had ran out of soap. I could feel the dirt on his arm as he wrapped it around my shoulder. "You look like the world-traveling types! Can I interest you in some fascinatingly exotic curios?" He gave Katara a sickening smile.

Leave it up to Aang to encourage the creepy pirate. "Sure!" He paused, and the smile faded into confusion, "What are curios?"

The dirty guy's eyebrows scrunched together, and he finally settled on an answer, "I really don't know, but we got 'em!" and Aang skipped happily off with the grungy man, leaving the rest of us to sigh and follow them up into the ship.

Even I have to admit, they had some pretty good stuff. There were swords and boomerangs, and blunt cudgels and axes; I was going to have to get myself a weapon if I was stuck without bending. There was a pretty good looking broadsword hanging on the wall, and right beside it was a pair of dual swords.

"You guys are pirates!" I heard Sokka's voice call up out of the mountains of stuff.

"We prefer to call ourselves 'high-risk traders'." It was the sleazy guy again. I sighed, and grabbed the dao blades off the wall. These were going to cost a pretty penny. Swinging them experimentally, I attempted to feel the way they moved. They were graceful, and flowed together like Yue and La, the moon and the ocean. They were made to be separate, but together, like the bending of the Avatar.

"Korra! Over here!" Katara called out gently, and I meandered over to her. Her eyes opened wide when she saw the swords, but she shook her head. "Korra, look what I found!" She shoved a scroll in my hands. A water-bending scroll.

"Sweet!" I smiled. "We should get this." She nodded enthusiastically, but then frowned.

"We don't have enough money, do we?" She pouted.

"I'll barter with something." I gave her a wry smile. I had some mother-of-pearl bracelets and some silver armbands, those had to count for something. I wouldn't be able to trade them for food, merchants who sold that wanted money, but for greedy pirates, that should be enough. I walked up to the big tall guy with the lizard-parrot on his shoulder, hoping he was the captain.

"Hey." I caught his attention, then plunked the blades and the scroll on the table in front of him. "I don't have money." His eyes narrowed, and he opened his mouth to shout. "I have stuff to trade, though." He stopped his almost-shouting to look at what I had. I pulled off two of the three bracelets, and put them on the table.

He shook his head. "Not enough for both the scroll and the swords. The swords alone, sure. But I already have a buyer in the Earth Kingdom for the scroll, one hundred gold pieces.

"Fine. We don't have that kind of money." I sighed. "I'll just take the swords." I could feel Katara glaring at the back of my head.

"We have a deal!" the pirate captain smiled and snatched up my bracelets. "And I will give you the sheath for these fine swords for the other bracelet." He smiled, I was getting cheated.

"Fine." I slipped off the other bracelet and handed it to him. His smile grew wider, and he reached under the table to draw out a simple cow-pig leather sheath that could be strapped around the waist or across the back.

"Bye." I grabbed the swords and the scroll, and walked over to where the stack of scrolls were; I was smiling as I slipped it under my belt.

"Come on, guys. We still have to get food." Everyone but Katara looked disappointed. Katara looked angry.

"Why couldn't –" I shook my head at her comment as we stepped off the ship's gangplank.

"Don't say anything." I took a deep breath. "One. Two."

"Hey! You!"

"Bingo." I smiled and turned around. "Katara. Get ready to run." I whispered to my friend under my breath. I also passed her the scroll, no use in me getting caught with it.

"You're a thief!" The dirty pirate was joined by four others, all of them just as dirty as he was.

"I prefer to call it 'high-risk trading'!" I called back to the seriously angry pirates, all of whom were jumping off the boat and readying their weapons.

"Go, guys. I've got this." Aang's eyes went wide, but he and the others turned and ran down an alleyway. I watched them out of the corner of my eye until they got far enough away not to be pursued. By that time all those gross pirates were almost on top of me. So I ran.

I'm built like a runner, and have been running forever and ever, it's just a part of being physically fit; those fat buckets of lard were no match for me. I was running until it felt like my lungs would split, straight out of town. I had a clear shot; the woods were just a few shops away... And I ran straight into a very fat man dressed in reds and browns, and wearing a tough armor. My chest connected with his body armor, knocking the wind out of my aching lungs, and before I could stop it, my head thunked into his shoulder armor with a nasty sound.

Ouch.

* * *

**Oooooh! I love throwing a kink in the story :) Review or PM me with any suggestions about anything :) (ex. Pairings? Someone dies viciously? Korra learns dao blades from an angry Zuko?) I'm attempting to at least a little follow the episode line all the way to the end, but with some funness in there that makes it different enough...**


	4. Pai Sho and Firebending

_**I now have a pretty decent - if I do say so myself- plan for the rest of Season One (Water) and some plans for Season Two (Earth) Thanks for the suggestions, and if you have anything to add, feel free - I love to hear what you guys have to say :)**_

* * *

**Korra's Point of View**

When I woke up, I didn't know where I was. "For the love of earthbending!" I moaned. How many times had this happened to me now? Twice? In about forty-eight hours? Why do the Spirits hate me so much?

"Ah, you are awake." Someone was in the room with me. "Have some tea. It will help." I struggled to sit up, and a very large man in red robes and armor handed me a cup of tea. I vaguely recognized him… he was the guy I'd run into while escaping those pirates.

"I feel like I ran into a brick wall." I groaned again, complaining of the massive headache I had as a result of running into strong armor.

He chuckled. "Fire Nation armor is pretty tough." I froze, the cup halfway to my mouth. He was Fire Nation, of course, that's why there was so much red in this room. The room was basically built out of metal, a giant hollowed-out cube, the only means of escape was the door, which was also metal, and was securely closed. From what I'd heard about old-time Fire Nation folks, though, was nasty stuff. Not old, fat guys giving innocent, injured girls tea.

"What… What is your name?" I asked him hesitantly, putting the cup of tea down.

"I am General Iroh." He smiled. "I am traveling with my nephew." There was a knock on the door, sharp and crisp. "Come in!" Iroh called cheerfully, and his smile only widened when he saw who it was. "Nephew!"

I, on the other hand, did not understand the smile. It was the 'banished prince' from the Fire Temple, and he was just as furious-looking as he was there, too. His eyes were scarily alight with something I couldn't recognize.

"You were to tell me when the prisoner woke up." He was staring at me, and I was staring at him, not breaking eye contact.

"Ah, yes. The young lady woke a minute ago, and I thought she might like some tea." We still didn't break eye contact.

"To Agni with tea, Uncle." He came forward and grabbed my arm, pulling me out of the bed and to my feet. Bummer. That was a comfy bed. He leaned towards me, and whispered in my ear, "You have some things to tell me." He dragged me out of the room and down the hall, we went into another room, this was bare except for a table and two chairs. An interrogation room, this was going to be like Chief Bei Fong all over again, wasn't it?

He shoved me down in one of the chairs, and himself took a seat in the other. "You are going to tell me where the Avatar is."

I made eye contact, it is a symbol of equality in the old water tribes, signifying that you believe you are of the other's rank. It can be interpreted as a sign of defiance. "Hmm…" I started. "You are going to have to clarify." There were, after all, two Avatars right now.

"You have been out for just under an hour. I need to find a little bald monk with tattoos. Tell me where they are, or the path they are taking to the Northern Tribe." His voice became sharper and more dangerous with every single word, he was not used to being refused.

"Well, with any luck, they'll have taken off by now. Their main route involves avoiding you." I said calmly, keeping eye contact. He couldn't be that dangerous, could he? I could take him.

"With any luck, they will still be on the river. Then you will have company in your confinement all the way to the Fire Nation." I snorted at his comment, and his eyes narrowed even further, if that was even possible. "Now, you are clearly Water Tribe," he gestured at my blue colored clothing, "And I know for a fact that you are not Southern Tribe, meaning that you are Northern, and therefore know the location of the Northern Tribe's base." So that's his big question.

"You are mistaken." He got up, and glared at me. "I'm sorry. My best bet is somewhere near the North Pole." Then he slapped me, right on the forehead, where my bruise from Iroh's armor was.

"You are of no use to me." He stated cleanly, and left me sitting there, on the chair, in pain.

When he got to the door, I called out to him, "You will regret that someday, Prince Zuko."

He turned back, showing me the scarred side of his face, "I'll take my chances."

**Katara's Point of View**

"Aang, I'm worried." I said. "Korra's been gone for over four hours." It was almost nightfall, and she hadn't returned.

"Do you think… Do you think she was captured?" He asked.

"Nah, this is Korra. She can always go into the Avatar State if she needs to." Sokka commented, "Meanwhile, I am getting some sleep." He'd already pulled out all of our sleeping bags, and was slipping into his.

"I agree with Sokka, and she knows we are going to the Northern Tribe." Aang stated. "Good night, Katara. She'll be here in the morning." Aang settled down into his bag, he was worried, but not as worried as I was. Korra, she couldn't have been captured?

"Night, guys." I didn't make a move for my bag, I just stood there as the fire got lower, and lower, and the cackling noises it made were joined by Sokka's loud snoring and Aang's soft humming noises that he made in his sleep. Korra was going to help me with the scroll. Earlier today, when Aang and I hadn't been worried about her fighting off those pirates, we'd tried it out. I'd, of course, gotten frustrated at my failing at the water whip. Korra would have taught it to me flawlessly, she was so good at protecting us, too. Volunteering to steal the scroll, and take the pirates was brave, and she would be able to do so easily with her bending, but without? She might need rescuing! The more I thought about it, the more it made sense, Korra had been captured by pirates, and needed rescuing! Aang and I would have to go get her in the morning, but without my bending I'd be useless… I would have to be able, at least, to do the water whip.

With that thought, I slipped away from the dying embers of the fire and snatched the scroll off the tree trunk where it was laying, a sleeping Momo as its sole guardian. I snuck off into the woods, occasionally stepping on a tree branch and making a cracking sound. I made it to the waterfront easily, though, without problems. Once there, I set the scroll on a rock and was just about to start my practice when I saw a puff of smoke above the treetops. Smoke? Our fire was near out, who else was in the woods? The smoke was coming nearer and nearer. I leaned out, but couldn't see past the bend in the river. This was really making me nervous, what was that smoke? Finally, I found out, though I really didn't like it.

There was Zuko's ship, being tailed by the pirate ship. And onboard Zuko's ship, standing at the prow, hands tied behind her back was a bruised Korra, standing beside the Prince of Evil himself. He didn't see me, I was standing next to a tree, but she did, and so did a lookout on the top of the smokestack.

"Katara." Korra called, there was a nasty bruise on her forehead, and Zuko turned to her and followed her gaze to where I was standing. "Run." Suddenly the deck exploded with life, and Zuko was shouting at his men and at the pirates… I didn't stick around.

I tore through the woods and into the clearing where Aang and Sokka were sleeping. "Everybody out of bed!" I screamed, and snatched up my sleeping bag. Sokka woke slowly, whining, and Aang groaned at the sleep interruption. "Zuko is coming!" I screeched as quietly as I could, and that got them up. There were voices in the woods all around us, but Aang and Sokka were just getting on Appa, who was, too, groaning at the midnight ride. "Yip Yip!" I called once the guys were on his tail, and not a moment too soon, as there were Fire Nation soldiers bursting out of the woods in nearly all directions. Sokka gasped in fear, but there wasn't much he could do but hang furiously onto Appa's tail. Aang, on the other hand, snatched his glider out of the saddle, and swooped up to the front, with me.

When we looked back, we could see an angry Zuko standing there with a smiling Korra. As we were flying away, I could have sworn she yelled, "You go, guys!"

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

We just kept flying, there wasn't much we could do. Aang and I would have to rescue her once we were both better at bending.

**Korra's Point of View – about a week later**

"My nephew is very frustrated that the Avatar got away again." Iroh commented as he moved his White Lotus tile to one spot on the board. "You lose!" He smiled gleefully.

"Well, this is only my third time playing… ever, and number four is going to turn out just as hopeless if you don't at least let my try to have a chance." I griped, this guy was good at pai sho. "And, sorry, but I really don't care much about your emotionally challenged nephew."

"Zuko is a good boy… he just has had a troubled life."

"Of course." I paused, "I need some fresh air. Can you tie me up and take me out on deck?" I was forced to ask him, I knew Iroh hated tying me up, it's not like I could go anywhere, with the ocean all around, but if we ran into Zuko, I'd better wish I was tied.

"I really do not see why these are necessary; you are a charming and nice girl." He sighed, "Sometimes I just don't understand my nephew." He tied the ropes around my wrists anyway, and we walked down the hall and onto the deck.

Zuko was practicing firebending, battling one of the crew members. His moves were good, but not perfect. He did a lash with his foot, sweeping a pointed toe across the deck, and sending a semi-circle of fire to the feet of his opponent.

"You are doing it wrong!" I called out cheerfully, rolling my eyes. Zuko wasn't as bad as everyone made him out to be. He could, dare I say, even be nice and funny at times. Times when he wasn't so preoccupied with getting back his honor. Which was near never.

"Oh, and I suppose the Water-Tribe girl is a firebender now?" He turned with a sigh. After the first day, he hadn't slapped me again, probably at his uncle's urging.

"Try flexing your foot, but keep it concise, and once you are done, you can just step on it." He raised his eyebrows. "It should make it more directional, more like a fast-moving 'v' instead of a semi-circle." He shrugged.

"Whatever." He continued his battle, I watched his feet. When the opening came, he took it, and snapped his foot appropriately into a flexed position as he pulled it around. A 'v' of fire shot out, and knocked the guy to the ground.

"Not bad!" Iroh commented.

"Where did you learn that?" Zuko was suddenly suspicious.

"Give me a break, Prince. I can't just go spilling all of my secrets." I smiled at him.

"Eventually you will, you just wait." His eyes narrowed, but Iroh rolled his, and chuckled.

"Korra can take whatever you've got, nephew, and you know it!"

"Listen to your uncle, Zuko." I smirked.

He shook his head, "Someday."

"I'm looking forward to it."

We were interrupted by a crew member coming out onto deck. "Prince Zuko!" He took a giant breath, "General Iroh!"

"Speak up." Zuko ordered.

"We have *pant* intercepted a hawk. It seems Admiral Zhao has captured the Avatar." The world came to a grinding halt.

"Where is he being held?" Zuko yelled, "For Agni's sake, tell me, man!"

"Pohuai Stronghold." The crew member stuttered.

"Tell the captain to set a course for Pohuai at once. I am retireing to my rooms. Tell me just before we get there, and we will _not be seen._" He finished with a huff and stormed off.

"Aang… was captured?" I stuttered.

"Apparently." Iroh commented. "Come, you and I must talk over tea." He started walking towards his quarters, and I followed, in a daze. Aang was captured? How? Were Katara and Sokka with him? Questions were flitting through my mind like gnat-bees and I could barely talk. I stumbled into his room, hands still tied, and I turned around so Iroh could untie them. As soon as he had, I sat down in a chair, and he gave me a cup of tea.

"You have to understand Zuko, he believes that the Avatar is the only way to get his honor back." Iroh started, but I cut him off.

"So what is this all about? You can't just 'lose' your honor!" I screeched, frustrated.

Iroh started off slowly, "When Zuko was fourteen, he was invited to one of his fathers, Fire Lord Ozai's, war meetings." He paused, and nodded at him to continue. "He was very excited, it was his first meeting, and he wanted to impress his father. But while there, he spoke against one of the General's statements. His father claimed that his disrespect and insubordination deserved punishment, and challenged him to an Agni Kai. Under the impression that he was going to face the general he insulted, Zuko accepted. It wasn't until he came to the battlefield and saw his father on the other end that he realized he'd objected in Ozai's war-room, and it was to Ozai he had accepted the challenge. He refused to fight his father." Iroh was tearing up now, but he continued. "Ozai claimed Prince Zuko was a coward, and walked right up to his kneeling son, and blasted him in the face." I gasped this time… So that was how Zuko had received his scar. I wouldn't want a father like that. "Then he banished Zuko until the day he could find the Avatar." Iroh finished. "Zuko must find the Avatar, or at least he thinks he does."

"I really don't know what to say." I stated, and then stood, "I'll be back, eventually." I ran out of the door, much to Iroh's surprise, and down the hall, jumped some stairs, and into Zuko's reception room. I'd never been in here before; it was like a sitting room, but connected to Zuko's quarters. Zuko was standing in the corner, dressed in black. He turned as I came in, and was going to yell when I spoke. "Shut it, Prince. I want to help." I paused, and nearly laughed at his expression. "You know you can't take the entire fortress on your own, you need back up. The deal is that Aang and I go free, and you live to attempt to catch us another day, kapeche?" He paused, considering the options.

"Deal. You have one hour to make your getaway from the moment we step outside that compound."

"Deal. Get me something black to wear." Zuko retreated into his room, and while he was gone, I stepped up and looked at the dao blades hanging on the wall. They were a _really _nice set of metal. Right beside the fireplace, leaning against the rock, was a sheath made of cow-pig leather and filled with two blades. My two blades. Zuko came out of the room with the black cloak, and I slipped it on over my water tribe clothing.

"Do I get my swords back?" I asked.

He snorted. "Do you know how to use them?"

"Not in any way, shape, or form, but having steel with me makes me feel less helpless." I responded.

He reached up and pulled the hanging swords from the wall, and gestured for me to pick up mine. "Let the energy flow. They work together, not apart." He demonstrated a quick move. "If all else fails, just use one as a nasty curved saber." He slipped his into a sheath on his back, and I did the same, then pulled the straps of the harness up my long black sleeves. The cloak did, however, cut off at the knee, leaving me enough leg room to run.

Zuko retreated into his room again, and returned a minute later with two masks, a blue one and a red one. He handed the red one to me, and slipped the blue mask on his own face. And with that we were ready for some kick-butt awesome ninja-ness.


	5. Red and Blue Spirits

**Korra's Point of View**

I really think Zuko is impressed by my awesome stealthy-ness. I am really rocking it. We had slipped off the ship after sending an official letter to Admiral Zhao requesting an audience the next day. And here I was now, jumping over the walls surrounding Pohuai, dark brown boots and pants plus a dark robe thing, and a red mask. Why the mask, I don't know. Zuko is kind of a drama queen.

"Where did you learn to move like that?" The voice beneath the blue mask whispered as soon as my feet touched down.

"That is why you wish you were me." I smirked, but he couldn't see it under my mask.

"I'm rolling my eyes, water peasant."

"Thanks for the info." We stopped talking as a guard came around the corner, Zuko cut him off before he could shout with a quick thrust of the sword into his stomach.

"You're killing them? They're your own people!" I stopped suddenly, right beside the now- dead guard.

"They are Zhao's men. And I was banished from the Fire Nation." What the flipping firebenders? He thought that this was justifiable? If I had my Avatar powers…

"No more killing. Giving them a painful bump, sure, but no killing."

"I'm not putting the mission at risk for some peasant's misguided sense of empathy." He was arguing full out now or as full out as one can while whispering.

I just looked at him, not moving an inch, and he sighed. "Fine. No killing. Unless they are about to kill or capture us." I started running forward, and Zuko caught up to me, swiftly pointing out directions to the center of the stronghold.

It took ten minutes and three unconscious guards to get to the center room, and I nearly started crying when I saw a beaten and bruised Aang hanging on chains five feet above the ground. Poor kid. He groaned and looked up as we entered the rooms, and Zuko and I positioned ourselves on both of his sides. He looked up at us fearfully , and when I raised my sword, synchronized with Zuko's, he flinched away. What the? Mask. There we go. I brought my sword down, flashing, on the chain that bound him to the pillars, and Zuko caught him after the fall. He jumped to his feet, his bright grey eyes flashing curiously, and started after us as Zuko left the room, I followed Aang. We were scaling the inner wall, the first of five, when a nasty sounding bell went off. Damn!

Aang and Zuko started fighting the Fire Nation guards that we just beginning to pour into the wide courtyard. I stayed back, and started scaling the wall again, using random metal handholds and getting all the way up, where I was met by three guards. I remembered what Zuko told me, the swords work together as one. I unsheathed them as dramatically as I could, and the guards gripped their spears visibly tighter; I was scaring them. I remembered a waterbending move that involved raising the water and thrusting it forward, and a firebending move that was similar. I raised the blades above my head as they charged, and spun with the two blades, catching a guard by the front armor and flinging him off the side. The other guards were still advancing, and I held both swords at my side, now unsure of what to do. I remembered the other thing Zuko mentioned. If all else fails, use it as a pointy saber. I lunged forward blindly, hitting the soldier's armor, and having it deflect. I hit his helmet with the flat of my blade, and he fell unconscious the ground. Pretty good for a beginner, two down, one to go.

I heard a yelp from behind me, where the other guard was supposed to be, and found him stone cold under a pile of limbs belonging to Zuko and Aang. They got up and Aang smiled up at his mortal enemy. Zuko must not have shown his face yet.

When we were on our last wall, we got cornered. Zhao and his cronies had us as trapped as we could get, stuck between a rock (the wall) and a hard place (the wall of spears).

"Take the Avatar alive, in fact, take them all alive," Zhao called to his minions, "I'll send the masked ones with the Avatar as a gift to the Fire Lord."

I took a step forward, trying to challenge the advancing spearmen, but was pushed back quickly. Then Zuko did something incredibly stupid.

Aang started choking, and I turned to see Zuko with his swords pressed up at Aang's throat, and Zhao's extremely pissed off face as he muttered the words, "Let them go."

One soldier was stupid enough to question him, "What?"

"I said, open the gates!" There was a creaking noise as the gates cracked themselves open enough for Zuko and I to slip through, with Aang being towed behind the Prince of Idiots himself. Yea, we were out, but Zuko was not making himself out to be a nice guy.

We walked away slowly, step by step by step, until we saw movement on the top balcony. At that point, Zuko turned and ran, with me close on his heels, and Aang pulling up a dust cover for us to slip through. An arrow whistled past my ear, and a jumped, but kept running. We didn't stop until we reached the woods, and found a nice tree to hang out on the uppermost branches.

"Well, thanks guys!" Aang sounded winded, but cheerful, despite his bruised appearance.

Zuko said nothing, and I sighed loudly, "We'll be off, Aang." I spoke to the boy, and to the man in the blue mask, I said, "And you'll give us an hour."

He reached up and took off his mask, relishing the look on Aang's face. "Your hour started fifteen minutes ago."

"Shit-head." I murmured as Aang and I slipped out of the woods and out of sight.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

"So what was the deal with that?" Aang asked as we waited in the lonely cave for Sokka and Katara to recover from the strange disease thingy that had taken them over. After letting them suck on frog butts, possibly the grossest thing I've ever seen, we had retired to the fire where we could talk.

"Well, Zuko gets extremely jealous," I paused and smiled, "He actually is a really funny person when you get him to stop worrying about his honor," my smile turned wry, "Which is never."

"Okay, and how does that correlate to you and the blue-mask guy?" That silly kid still didn't get it.

I sighed, "Zuko didn't want anyone else to turn you into his father, so he freed you. That was Zuko in the mask." His eyes flew wide open, and open his mouth to say something, which I cut off by continuing my statement. "He couldn't do it alone, so he said he'd give me an hour. He's probably on his way to the north pole right now, because that's where he thinks we are, or traveling to right now."

"So, Zuko was the one who busted me out?" Aang looked as me incredulously.

"Yep." I yawned, "I'm gonna hit the hay, wake me up when it's my watch."

I walked over to my sleeping bag, and flopped down, asleep as my head hit the seal hide.

I woke to the rays of sunlight hitting my face, and Katara shaking my shoulder.

"Wake up, sleepy-head. We're heading for the coast."

I groaned, "What time is it?" Everyone else was already packed. Sokka snorted. "What?" I snapped.

He smiled, "And I thought I woke up late!" I scowled and threw my pillow at him. He laughed. "We really did miss you, Korra." He smiled again, and we finished cleaning up the camp in the cave.

Once we were safely up in the air, I allowed my thoughts to drift to Zuko, and his terrible past. And to my bending, my lack of it. A surge of panic swelled up in me, but I didn't know why. Something about not having bending scared the old me. With a sigh, the new, non-bender me put my head down on the rim of the saddle and looked out on the endlessly moving ocean on all sides of us.

**Back in Republic City**

**Bolin's Point of View**

"Mako, bro, Tenzin sent us a letter from the Air Temple." I called out to my brother.

"Good, it's probably telling us when Korra'll be back." He set down the frying pan with our supper in it and turned around. "And it had better be soon, like in the next month, or the Fire Ferrets won't be able to compete in the next tournament." He came over and pulled it out of my hands. He is such a control freak, and I'm pretty sure it's all unconscious.

The look on his face went from curiously amused to disbeiliving after reading the first bit of the letter, and from disbelieving to shocked and angry as he finished it up. "What?" I asked, "She's not staying there for forever, is she?"

Mako threw the letter on the table. "Pack your things, and any spare change you can scrounge up. I'm calling Asami and getting us a boat to Kyoshi Island."

"Kyoshi? Are we going to the Air Temple?"

"Just read the letter." Mako stomped off, leaving me alone in the kitchen are.

_Mako and Bolin,_

_I'm sorry. I'm afraid Korra had been called away for her Avatar duties and will be back at an undetermined time. I'm sorry if this disrupts your tournament times. Thank you for everything you've done for her._

_Tenzin_

_Airbending Master_

_Republic City Council: Air Nomad Representative_

It's not like Korra to leave us. This is really worrying. I ran and packed my stuff. It was time to head to the Air Temple, and drag Korra kicking and screaming back to the city, where she belongs.

* * *

**Sorry it has taken so long to update… I was kind of to busy reading fanfiction to write any… (*looks guiltily at floor*) Sorry…**

**If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them, PM me or leave it in a review. **

**Some people have had concerns involving me being a Zutara fan, and wanting to alter the course of history, and, unfortunately for all you Zutara fans out there, it won't be. Sorry. This is forcibly Kataang, just cause I love Tenzin too much. Well, that and the whole altering the course of history isn't really my thing. **

**Thanks for reading!**


	6. Bato of the Water Tribe

**Now, I know this isn't entirely accurate, but it is a somewhat shorter version of events, so bear with it. Thanks to all my loyal readers, and a special thanks to those who fav'ed it, put it on story alert, or reviewed it.**

**3**

* * *

**Korra's Point of View**

We were hanging out near the coast, traveling north, when Katara found the abandoned ship. According to her, it was a part of the Chief Hakoda's fleet, that meant her father was here at one time. She and Sokka were so excited. We set up camp outside the ship, until we heard footsteps echoing inside the vessel.

"What was that?" Sokka hissed as he reached for his water-tribe club.

"Someone… someone is in the boat," murmured Katara and Aang's eyes went wide in shock and fear.

My hands went to the twin blades at my side, they were useless to me as real swords, but I was half-training with them on Appa's back, just going through some seemingly routine and natural forms. The footsteps grew louder, and I unsheathed the blades, now lovingly named Yue and La, after the Moon and Ocean Spirits. Of course, I didn't voice that out loud, that would be embarrassing. Who names their swords?

With blades drawn, I moved towards the ladder that came down from the boat. It was in shadow, but I could faintly see the outline of a person standing on the top of the boat, one hand on the railing.

"Hello, down there. You can put those weapons down, I mean you no harm," called down a friendly male voice.

"Why don't you come down here, then we'll talk," I called in a faux cheerful voice. "Slowly," to emphasize my point, I hoisted a dao blade up onto my shoulder.

As a response, the shadowy figure turned towards the ladder and began climbing down. His climb was lopsided, he was leaning heavily towards his right, the direction towards me, and I wouldn't have been able to see if he was concealing a weapon with his other hand. I took a step back, gripping my blades tightly at my sides. I glanced back to see Aang and Katara readying themselves into their most comfortable bending stances. Katara's was, as per usual, was too tense and held her body to close together. Sokka was walking up behind me, and I could feel him breathing on my shoulder , his breath was hot and heavy with nerves. The man stepped into the light of the campfire, and Katara gasped.

"Bato!" She called out, and Sokka rushed from behind me to hug the man.

"Wait a second?" He called out confusedly, "Sokka and Katara?"

He hugged Sokka with one arm, wincing as Sokka's body rubbed up against the bandages that he had wrapped around his left arm. "Sokka! Katara!" He called out cheerfully, and after he had hugged Sokka, he moved to me, enveloping me in comfortable hug, despite the arm. "When did you learn to use a sword, Kat?" He pushed me out at arm's length, and looked me straight on in the face. His face was narrow and boney, but not unpleasantly so, with narrow eyebrows that nearly connected in-between his eyes. My eyebrows, on the other hand, were standing straight up on my forehead. "You aren't Katara?"

"Umm. No. Sorry to disappoint." I said a little uncomfortably. I shifted my weight to the balls of my feet and back again as the man, Bato.

"Thanks a million, Bato. Confusing me with her isn't the ideal way to get on my good side," she murmured, but smiled as she said it.

"Hey." I scowled as she and Bato hugged. "Not nice." Aang giggled.

"How did you kids get up here?" Bato asked, "I suppose you don't exactly count as 'kids' anymore, either."

He was smiling and beginning a conversation with Sokka and Katara while Aang and I sat down with them around the campfire. We were a little lost, but were following along decently well.

"We are traveling with Aang" Katara smiled widely and gestured towards the monk, "To the North Pole."

Bato whistled, "The North Pole? Quite a journey from the South. Why there?"

Aang answered that question, "I'm the Avatar. I need to learn waterbending."

Bato turned his head to Aang, and looked him up and down. "The Avatar?"

"Yeah. Long story." Katara smiled uncomfortably, "One mainly involving Sokka pissing me off, and a giant block of ice."

Bato smiled amiably, albeit confusedly, and continued with his story. "Well, I have news. Hakoda is sending word of his location, maybe you guys will be able to catch him before you go on?" he was well-meaning, but he must not have known what kind of a kink he was throwing in our plans. If we waited a week for the information, then had to head south, we would never make it to the North Pole in time to teach Aang and Katara waterbending.

They kept talking until the embers were nearly dead in the fire, while I just lie there, enchanted by their easy conversation with each other. So this was how the Southern Tribe was supposed to be, friends with everyone, can chat about anything. As Avatar, I was set apart from the rest of the tribe, I can remember a sense of loneliness. With that desolate feeling, I went off to sleep.

**June's Point of View**

The fat guy and the kid from the ship I'd just messed with were in the bar, and I'd have to say they didn't look like they belonged there. Obviously Fire Nation officials, they managed to look disgusted and fascinated at the same time at the grungy bar I now resided at. I've been to some bad and filthy places, and this was one of the worst, but even I didn't look so insulting to the men who made it their regular hangout. The guys were walking towards me, and one of the men at the bar next to me did not seem to like the sneer on the scarred kid's face.

"You wanna go, pretty boy?" It was supposed to be an insult, and the man stood up like he was going to hit the boy, which I knew was a bad idea. Might as well let this play out. He took a final swig of the drink he had in his hand, and slammed it down onto the bar beside me, causing it to spray upwards and drizzle on my arm. Gross, beer and backwash, and judging by the man's slobbering, plenty of the latter. He swung a clumsy punch, the guy must have just been waiting for a fight, and the kid deflected it easily, and kicked the back of the man's knee, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. The fat guy had the decency to look surprised, and the rest of the bar grew quiet.

"Drinks on me!" I called as loud as I could, trying to diffuse the situation, it worked. A huge cheer went up from the corners of the bar, and the bar tender began filling the glasses. There were only ten people or so in the bar, but still, those fire guys were gonna owe me. I turned to them as the bartender tapped my shoulder. "Here, whatever," I spun around and threw my coin purse in the guy's face, "I want change," Turning back to the men in front of me, both completely serious, I asked, "So what exactly is it you want? Last time I saw you, you were screaming at me to get off your ship, and now here you are. Can't get enough of me?" I smirked.

"We need your tracking expertise." The boy spoke and the fat man stayed silent. The kid was kind of cute, in a solemn and angry way.

"Number one, I come with a price," I paused and looked at his face; no reaction. "A large price, and number two, Nyla needs a scent; no scent sample, no tracking." I reached for my drink and took a gulp, the stuff seared down my throat, but I took another one, then looked more closely at the glass. That was a potent drink.

The kid shifted his weight to his other foot, "The price isn't a problem, and I have a scent sample outside." He turned to leave, and I got up an followed, after grabbing my coin purse from where the bartender had dropped it on the table. The guy had better not have cheated me.

Once outside, I approached the boy, who was standing with his back to me. When he turned around he held something out for me to see, "Will this work?"

It was a red mask, a vicious looking thing, but if it had a scent on it… "Nyla! We have work to do.

**Korra's Point of View**

We spent the next few days practicing waterbending, or at least Aang, Katara, and I did. Sokka and Bato were doing whatever non-benders do. Then I remembered that I am a non-bender now, too. Damn. Bato was giving me some funny looks, too.

"What _are_ you doing?" He asked as Katara and I were going through movements of a basic water-ball.

"What do you think?" I responded evenly, "Katara, loosen up, all that tension is going to kill the bending, too much tension means…"

"to much energy in the water, which causes it to do funky things." She finished the statement I had drilled into here while riding Appa.

"Bingo." I said, "Turn, bring it in, and drop." We finished the sequence before I turned around to face a curious Bato.

"You think you are teaching waterbending? Kat can't waterbend, number one, and number two, neither can you." He snorted. I glared.

"Katara, again, but with water this time." I turned back to her, a pleading look in my eyes. She had to show him, and she knew it. She nodded. "Relax, just let yourself feel the pulse." I took my stance above the water, hands reached out like I was about to complete the completely normal action of plucking the water from beneath me. I remember the feeling of the water pushing and pulling my blood, a feeling only a waterbender can have. My muscles expect the water to follow my hand motions when I go through the exercise, but it doesn't, just like my brain thought. Katara, however, successfully lifted the water into a narrow stream. "Bring it up, turn," I commanded, and we moved identically, the water following her hands and circling her body. "Gather in front of you and hold," I called, and she moved into the position, but she was becoming tense again, she was concentrating too much on what she wanted the water to do, it was being fed too much of her energy, and the water exploded in a giant burst, spraying mainly Katara and I, but some of it got Bato as well. His eyes were wide and shocked, but Katara and I were laughing.

"Next time, I'll relax more during the hold," She smiled.

"Good." I smiled right back, and then we both looked at Bato's flabbergasted face.

"Kat… can… waterbend…"

"Yep." Katara gloated proudly, "Although not very well." The gloating became a little more diminished, but was still there as she told him her level of expertise.

"And you, whatever your name is,"

"Korra."

"You, you teach her… even though you can't bend."

"Yea. That's the gist of it." He just stood and stared at me and Katara for a second or two, then shrugged and sighed.

"I should have seen that coming," Bato said, and he walked on past our little bending area to find Sokka.

Three days into our stay at the coast, Aang's cheery disposition changed from happy-go-lucky to a little more reserved, and he seemed to be over protecting his body; like he had the most important painting in the world stuffed under his shirt and was worried that it was going to get smudged or get a hole in it. Come the fourth day, Bato was becoming worried that the message from Hakoda hadn't come yet, but we all forgot that as soon as he offered to take Sokka ice-dodging.

"Really?" Sokka asked excitedly when Bato offered.

"Well, you didn't exactly get the opportunity to, and we can officially make you and your two friends full members of the Southern Tribe." I was a member of the new Southern Tribe, but we never got to do something fun like this!

Sokka looked at the four of us, all eager and excited to get into the boat and avoid some rocks, and accepted without a second thought.

That is how we found ourselves, twenty minutes later ready to set sail, Sokka at the wheel, Katara working the sails, Aang at the rudder, and me up in the crow's nest (ish) area on the main column.

We set off easily, and my job of watching was easy, until we started speeding up, and I had to start calling down to Sokka the positions of the rock spires, it was up to him to make the decisions, and to tell Katara and Aang what to do. There were a couple close calls, and some sharp turns that nearly knocked me off my perch, but the worst of it came when we hit the current.

We were practically flying through the air, just barely missing rocks on both sides, until we were almost home free. "Rock, left!" I called, "and right, underwater! Watch it, Sokka!" but the boat slammed into the underwater rock, and was sent dangerously off-kilter, tilting over top of the rock to the left of us. In a split-second decision, I jumped up, the top of the mast was nearly touching the rock, and pushed off. The shove I gave it as I jumped and the loss of weight pulling that side down, sent the boat rocking back into the current, and me flying towards a rock.

I didn't die, I did, however, hit my arm and my knee pretty hard. I lie there on that god-forsaken rock for a minute or two, until I heard a cheer from the shore. I groaned and pulled myself up to see what they had succeeded in; they had pulled the small boat onto shore and were calling my name, "Korra!" "Korra!" With another groan, I jumped from the rock into the icy water, and began swimming towards the shore.

A few minutes later, I was standing on the shore, dripping water, and cheering along with everyone else. We had succeeded.

"For Sokka, the Mark of the Wise, for showing intelligence and leadership in the face of danger." Bato dipped his finger in the paste in the shell and scrawled a semi-circle with a dot just below the center. Sokka nodded to the senior tribesman, and beamed.

"For Katara, the Mark of the Brave, for an inspirational display of courage." Bato added a curling crescent moon to her forehead, and Katara smiled proudly.

"For Aang, the outsider, the Mark of the Trusted, you have proven yourself to the Tribe." Bato smiled and put a semi-circle on Aang's smooth forehead. At the mention of the word 'trusted', Aang's face fell slightly. What did that kid do? Oh, for the love of firebenders.

"And for Korra, the Mark of the Selfless, for sacrificing yourself for the sake of the tribe." I really hope that isn't foreshadowing, I don't want to die here, away from everyone and everything familiar. He drew a zig-zag line on my forehead and smiled at us. Aang was looking at the ground shamefully, and then opened his mouth to speak.

"Whatever you did, just get it over with." I stated cleanly, and he turned to me with a look of frustration and confusion. Maybe I should have stayed silent.

He looked uncomfortably up at a now more confused Katara and Sokka, and an mildly curious Bato. "I… I'm sorry. I was afraid you'd just leave me…" He broke off and I gasped. The map to Hakoda came and he just took it? "A messenger came yesterday with this," he reached into his airbender shirt, and pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper. Now Katara and Sokka gasped, and Bato's eyebrows shot up.

"You…" Katara was furious, she was steaming and I could practically see the smoke streaming from out of her ears. "You knew how much seeing my dad meant to us." She was having some difficulty forming the words, and stuttered a little as she spoke them.

"I can't believe this, Aang! You just went and kept this from us?" Sokka cried, astonished, as Katara grabbed the map from Aang's clutching fists.

"The rendezvous is just south of here," she muttered, and Sokka leaned over her shoulder to look at it.

"Go pack your stuff," he told Katara, then called out to Bato, "Wait for us!" They strode off leaving me and a dejected and surprised Aang standing there on the beach with a little boat and blue marks on our foreheads.

"They… they're leaving," he stuttered as he stared off at Katara's fuming form in the distance, packing her sleeping bag.

"That was incredibly stupid of you," I told him. It was. I was looking forward to meeting my tribe, when I wasn't alienated by the fact I was the Avatar. This might have been the only chance I had.

"What?" He turned to me, a crazed look on his face, "I just wanted to stay together."

"And you shouldn't have done that, you knew how much it meant to them."

"But… but…"

"Aang?" I asked.

"Yea?"

"Shut up, I'm going to go pack."

"What?"

"I. am. going. to. go. pack." I put deliberate space between the words, and walked off, leaving him standing there on the beach.

"You… you can't just leave with them!"  
I spun around, "It's not just them whom this means a lot to, I kinda wanted to learn something about my tribe, feel what it would feel like to be a part of something like that when I wasn't the oddball Avatar. You'll survive somehow; maybe we'll even meet up at the North Pole." I stated and stalked off, leaving a shocked and alone kid on the shore.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

"Korra." I heard after we had been walking in silence for an hour.

"Yea?" I called back at Katara.

"Why did you leave Aang?"

I took a deep breath, and moved in closer so that Bato wouldn't b e able to make out what we were saying, he was ahead of us by ten or so feet, and if I spoke quietly, he wouldn't learn anything he shouldn't know. "I have been alone in my tribe all my life. When I think back to it, all I can remember of the South Pole is a sense of aloneness, alienation. I was the Avatar, and at a young age everyone knew it. I didn't get to be a full member of the tribe; I was too busy learning to be the Avatar, and I never had any real friends until after I left. I just want to learn how to be a real member of the Southern Water Tribe, without any complications." I finished my little schpeel with a feeling of anticipation, I was going to be a part of my tribe, and not be the odd one out.

Sokka came up behind me, a sad look on his face, one that was nearly matching Katara's. "You felt alone and alienated."

"Yea." I sighed.

"Kind of like Aang probably feels right now," Katara continued, "Not to say that I'm not thoroughly pissed off by the monk, but maybe we overreacted."

I stopped short. Aang probably feels just like I felt, alone, with no one to relate to. No one who knows what he is going through. No one, but the other Avatar. Me. "For the love of flying firebenders." I turned around. "I'm going back." And I turned around and started running, and much to my delight, I could hear Katara and Sokka right on my heels.

"Bye, Bato!"

"Tell Dad 'Hi' from us!"

And we started jogging to our friend, our incredibly stupid, dumb, insane, idiotic friend.

Our jog only lasted for a half an hour until we hear sounds coming from the woods, like a big animal coming towards us. We were almost to the coast, to Aang, and now we were going to be skewered by some crazed boar. Fantastic. Only it wasn't a boar. As it burst from the woods, I caught a glimpse of a rider on its back, a hard-looking woman who looked like she could fight. My blades were on my back, and I was running so hard now I couldn't reach for them. Every step I took sent a jarring thump up my leg and body, I couldn't think, the only thing I could do was run as fast and far as I could. I whip snarled around my ankle, and I fell hard onto the rocky ground, Katara and Sokka far behind me. This thing was _hunting _me, and me specifiacally. I scrambled around, turning to look the large monster in the face, and it sniffed me experimentally. The woman climbed down from the back of the beast, and she walked up to me.

"What do you want?" I asked. Who was this woman? Why was she after me? And why was that thing smelling me so… weirdly.

"I'm June, the bounty hunter. I don't want anything with you." She said smoothly, and pulled me to my feet. A couple yards behind us, Sokka and Katara were being arrested by several Fire Nation soldiers, some of whom were familiar.

"Chen?" I called.

"Korra! Sorry, orders are orders!" He called as he twisted a squirming Katara's arms behind her back and held them there.

"I'm the one who should be saying hello, but instead I have a question." A chilling voice called from behind me, one that by now I was thoroughly familiar with. Zuko. The Banished Prince. "Where is he?"

"Um… I don't know how to tell you this," I said as I brushed the dust off of the skirt tied around my waist, "But we kinda split up about an hour and a half ago." I looked in his eyes firmly, they were a subtle shade of gold. "Sorry."

"You actually expect me to believe that?" He scoffed, and Iroh waddled up behind him.

"The guards have searched the woods around here, no sign of the Avatar." Iroh paused, then continued, "There is a stream nearby, maybe we could make some tea and wait?"

That was the wrong thing to say, and Iroh knows it. "No! No tea, Uncle!" he spun around and pointed at me, "And you, Korra, are going to help me find him."

I looked up at the sky, a large white cloud was low, nearly touching the trees, and coming towards us. I wish that cloud was Appa. "How 'bout no."

Zuko's eyes narrowed. "I say yes."

The cloud flew lower, and I could see a tiny spot of orange on the front bit, and a large brown thing on the back of the cloud. It was Appa! "I don't think that will be necessary," I said, then leaned forward and kneed him in the groin. He let out a furious gasp, and Aang jumped down from Appa, using his glider to propel himself towards the guards holding Sokka and Katara. One foot hit Chen right in the face, and the other slammed into Hui's breastplate, forcing them away from my friends. Appa landed right beside the mole-monster the bounty hunter was riding, and shocked the thing to its core, it jumped five feet straight into the air. Aang pulled Sokka and Katara up towards Appa, and once they were safely on, he turned towards me.

By now, Zuko had recovered, and I was in the middle of a fearfully good fire fight, where only one of us was using fire. Dodging blasts was burned into my muscles, and I was moving with the punches, slipping and weaving in and out of the flameballs, and I assumed my airbending stance. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Aang's eyes go wide at the familiar stance, and I stepped back with every dodge. Eventually I was close enough to Appa, who was beginning to take off, that I could jump onto his tail, which was exactly what I did.

"Toodloo, Zuko! Ciao!" I could see his frustrations as he punched a tree, and yelled at his men.

The yelling grew fainter as we went up, but after Iroh went and talked to him, I could distinctly hear his furious voice, "NO TEA!"

* * *

**Whoa! That was a lot longer then expected, and this chapter was supposed to go onto 'The Deserter', too. Thanks to the reviewers, again, cause I love you so much! **

**The Blind Sniper- _Thanks for all the support you've given me since the beginning of the story, and don't worry, I won't tell your girlfriend :P_**

**Vampiregurl11- _Wow! Thanks for all the positive enthusiasm :) Thanks for loving the story :)_**


	7. The Deserter

**Korra's Point of View**

"I'm sorry," Aang said solemnly, "I shouldn't have done that. It was stupid and selfish and I'm sorry." He had stood up in front of everyone in the saddle to make this announcement, and much to Sokka and my surprise, the ever grudge-holding Katara was the first to speak.

"I'm sorry we left like that." She got up from her spot on the ground and hugged the frowning airbender right then and there; his grey eyes went from a rainy sort of color to bright and normal, and he hugged her back.

"Ok! Ok! We're all happy everyone's made up and such, just don't do that again and we'll all be happy and whatnot," Sokka said in an exasperated voice.

"Sokka," Katara broke out of Aang's embrace and put her hands on her hips. "You are ruining the moment." I noticed Aang's face fall just a little bit when she stopped hugging him, and I caught a flash of memory, an old ice sculpture with a figure of an older Katara and an older Aang, happily holding hands and walking; an old woman telling me about a wedding. Then it was gone, the sculpture and the old woman's cracking voice, and Katara was standing in front of a disappointed Aang.

"Okay, now that we are all back together as a gang, why don't we…" Sokka paused, "The gAang!" He screeched and I jumped.

"What is it now?" I asked in my most exasperated voice.

"Gaang, with two 'a's so it has Aang in it! We have a team name! Or…" He paused, and Katara rolled her eyes, "We could be Team Avatar! Cause we have two Avatars!"

"Or we can just not have a team name," Katara stated, "Now, what was it you were saying?"

Sokka stopped moving and began to think, you could practically see his brain whizzing, "I forgot!" Katara rolled her eyes again. "Lemme think… Team Avatar… the gang… why don't we… Look down! There is a fire nation town down there, and they look like they are having a party, and we all need to loosen up." Sokka declared, and pointed down at Appa's saddle.

We all ran to the sides and looked down, and sure enough, there was a little fire nation village having a party.

"We could learn something valuable about fire nation culture," stated Aang.

"I wouldn't mind that."

"Sounds good to me."

What in the name of Yue and La were these guys thinking? A fire nation town, when the fire nation was hunting us, and we should be on our way to the North Pole? Uh- no thanks. "Bad idea," I stated and everyone turned towards me, incredulous looks all around. "Think, people, fire nation town equals fire nation soldiers, fire nation soldiers equals capture and endless torture until we reach the Fire Isles, which, might I add, is the _opposite_ way of our destination."

"C'mon, Korra, we'll wear disguises. Nobody'll arrest us," Sokka argued.

"I don't think we should," This is foolish, stupid even. Something that was getting in our way.

"I don't care what you think, I'm going," stated Aang firmly, and we went to the drivers seat on Appa and brought the massive bison down to earth on a hill outside the town.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

So here we are, in the Fire Nation Festival, wearing masks bought from a roadside vendor. If Zuko hadn't kept my Red Spirit mask, I'd wear that, but he unfortunately was in possession of it, and I was forced to wear a white mask mottled with grey, and a big red circle on the forehead. It looked oddly familiar, but I couldn't quite place it. We saw a puppet show that was brainwashing children, and now we are watching a man firebend on a large stage, obviously showing off, and Aang is sitting here convinced that this guy should be his teacher. HE IS A PREFORMER. Not a teacher. And what really frustrates me is that Aang doesn't seem to realize that.

"And now, I need a volunteer from the crowd!" calls What's-His-Name the Magnificent; Aang begins jumping up and down furiously with little 'ooh, ooh me!'s in between jumps. "And I want… you!" He is pointing right beside Aang at Katara, who tenses underneath the cloak and mask hiding her face and water tribe clothing. She walks onto the stage, stumbling a bit once she got up there.

As the man performing the act proceeded to tie her to a conveniently placed chair, I leaned forward and whispered in Sokka's ear, "What did I tell you. Problems." He was nervously biting the fingernails on his left hand at the thought of his little sister being tied to a chair by a creepy firebender. He began a long sort of schpeel about the act, then began bending. He really was a good firebender, kind of a showy type of good, though, not something that would be able to hold its own in a fight. The fire was circling Katara, and he was manipulating it so the light from the flame echoed across her mask, making her seem like she was glowing. Then he started bring the fire around, to close to Katara for comfort, and there was one instance when the fire was coming down at her at a huge speed, so fast it looked more dangerous than the rest of the performance.

In that moment, Aang rushed forward, onto the stage, and airbended the fire away from Katara. What a stupid kid. There were a bunch of wild gasps from the audience, they were confused as to why a kid just made their entertainment go away, and why he had those weird tattoo's; maybe they hadn't figured it out and we could get away from this place. "I told you people; bad idea," I muttered under my breath as I mentally urged Aang to come down from there. He had untied Katara, and now, with everyone staring at him, he gave a little smile and began doing a funky dance thing to keep them entertained; he didn't come down. "Aang!" I urged, hopefully just loud enough for him to hear me, but unfortunately, at about the same time, a man screamed "THE AVATAR" at the top of his lungs. Damn. It was all downhill from there. Aang leaped into action, pulling Katara down the stage, and Sokka went and joined them, was I the only one with any intelligence down here? "Get out of the way! He'll kill us all!" I called in the loudest voice I could muster, and it had the desired effect; hundreds of people heard me, and all of them began running as fast as they could from the small kid with airbending tattoos. They began running towards the hill where we'd stashed Appa when the guards showed up. They were chasing everyone else when I screamed again, "MY GOD, HELP!" That deterred a few of them, coming to help the poor girl who'd gotten herself into this situation. If there is one thing I like about a crowd, it is the anonymity; I was just another person in a mask, moreover, I was just another person in a full-face mask. No one knew who had screamed, they just knew it came from this general direction, and playing on their confusedness, I high-tailed it out of there. Joining with the gang at the mouth of an alleyway, where we were still being chased by guards, I muttered, "You people so owe me," much to Sokka's discomfort, he should feel guilty for just leaving me there to draw the guards away by myself. We ran down another alleyway, the guards were falling further and further behind, that was good. But when I looked back, there were half the guards there were before.

"Ummm… guys, bad news," I started while running down yet another mostly deserted road, "They are trying to-" I broke off when another set of guards came charging down the road to our left, that left another dark and narrow alleyway for us. "Ambush us," I finished weakly and we all turned on our heels and sprinted for the alley. Just our luck the only option available for us to run down was a dead end. Sokka took one look at the wall in front of us, one of the walls that ran around the length of the entire town, and let out a huge sigh.

"We're screwed," he muttered darkly, and turned to face the guards who had just began to walk down the alleyway. Maybe it wasn't bad luck on us, but good planning on their part that had allowed this.

Then our saving grace appeared in the form of a grungy older man leaning out of a half-hidden doorway in the building beside us. "Pssst! Hey, follow me!" He whispered, and Aang darted in the doorway. Katara and Sokka followed quickly, and then the guards began to realize what was happening; they broke into a run, trying to capture us, but I was already inside and slamming the door when they arrived. "Quickly, through here!" The man called, and I followed Katara and Sokka down a flight of stairs and up one, and out of a thick door that had been carved into the wall surrounding the town. We followed the man, and stopped as soon as we were outside the city limits, waiting for the man to close the heavy door behind us. Once he had, he turned to face us and spoke, "You will follow me, there is someone I want to meet you, Avatar."

I stepped forward, coming in-between the man and Aang, "Whoa there! We aren't walking blindly into anything," I stated coolly, we weren't doing two stupid things in one day, not on my watch.

"Korra, he just saved our lives, we can visit someone for him," Aang protested, letting his naturally gentle Air Nomad side come out a bit while he spoke.

"What if he wants us to go drop in on Admiral Zhao?" I asked Aang furiously with a hint of frustration leaking into my voice, "I don't want something like Pohuai to happen again, and I don't want to be caught unaware again, like tonight." The stranger hissed in a breath at the mention of Admiral Zhao, and I turned to him after I was done with Aang. "We aren't stupid."

"Of course not, and I would not wish a visit with the Admiral on anyone. I am taking to see the only man to desert the Fire Nation Army and live, the honorable Jeong Jeong," he finished in the gently urgent voice he started with, "And we must be moving if we are to make it to his headquarters by daybreak."

Katara smiled, and Sokka looked happy I was finally being shown up. This guy had given us no indication that he was not trustworthy, but I still didn't want anything to do with him. I thought back to my time on Zuko's ship; Zuko had given me, and everyone else, the impression he was a dirty liar, but I trusted him. I guess I was just odd like that. "Fine, one hint of danger, and we are all out of there." I stormed off to find Appa, and everyone else followed.

**Jeong Jeong's Point of View**

I could feel the sun rising when the boy walked into my tent. "Who are you, and what are you doing in my private tent?" I was practically snarling; this is what happens when you interrupt my meditation session.

He was startled, but spoke anyway, "Master Jeong Jeong, I need a firebending teacher." This kid didn't need a firebending teacher, he needed a backbone.

"You can't really expect me to jump at the chance," I murmured as I fell back into a meditative state, focusing on the candles in front of me.

"But, I'm the Avatar."

So this kid was the missing Avatar, and he wanted me to be his teacher. He didn't sound like the Avatar, the Avatar was confident, flexible like a waterbender, free like an airbender, strong like an earthbender; in both the physical and mental meanings of the words. This boy sounded free-spirited, but frightened and unable to be entirely flexible or strong. "You have mastered Air, Water, and Earth, I presume? Unless you are a waterbender from the North, and have finally been reborn, in which case I think you will have a problem with Air."

I could feel his unease; if I made him this uncomfortable, think of what the fire will do to him. "I'm an airbender, and have some training in water," he stated firmly, like that was an accomplishment. It was not. The Avatar needed to learn all four elements in their designated order, that was the way of things.

"In that case, no, I will not teach you until you have fully mastered Water and Earth." Case closed, now the boy could leave and I could finally get some good meditation done.

"But, Sifu Jeong Jeong!" He called out shocked. I have to admit, I was shocked, too, I had told the boy I would not teach him, and yet he called me 'Sifu'?

"Get out," I shouted and the boy left me in peace.

I was meditating for no more than five minutes before I was interrupted yet again by the Avatar. This one came in the fire, my candles began to burn higher and higher, becoming out of control; a figure was taking place in the flames. Despite my surprise and outright astonishment, I could not let the figure know I was influenced by his magnificent arrival, and I attempted to keep my face neutral.

"Jeong Jeong. You know my request," the figure murmured in its crackling voice, "I want you to teach Aang, you are most likely the only chance he'll have at learning to firebend."

"Avatar Roku, I will not teach a student who is not ready. Look at what happened to my last student, a failure and a monster," I replied evenly, and had to close my eyes; Roku's flaming body was too bright for my eyes. The fire roared again at my response, coming to close to my skin for comfort. I had a feeling that if I tried to bend the fire, it would amount to nothing, so I remained silent.

"YOU WILL TEACH HIM," Roku scream was fire, flaring up and up until the whole hovel I was in was filled with those dreadful flames that had turned my life to ashes.

"He is not ready," I calmly replied, or as calmly as I could. I could withstand Roku's rage if I needed to, but I would not teach a student who isn't ready.

The flames calmed and I found an angry Roku looking at me from the candles, "You are the only chance he has. If it is not you, it will be another, eventually, who may mess up his training and make him more of a monster than your student." So Roku knew how to play me. I couldn't let him fail in the hands of another, not when I could teach him something useful.

"Fine. I will teach the Avatar until he proves himself to be unready," I conceded, and the flames began to die down the figure becoming smaller and smaller, and finally disappearing in a loud cracking noise.

I sighed and settled back into meditating, it took less than thirty seconds for some random follower of mine to come rushing in, wondering what all the flames and voices were about. "Fetch me the Avatar." I told the man, and returned to my meditation, I wouldn't be able to do it for much longer.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

"I've been squatting and breathing for hours! You tell me to go up the mountain and squat and breathe, I do it, and all you want is me to do it more! I wish I could stop breathing!" The Avatar called exasperatedly, and he glared at me. We were in my hut again, and it was just after midday on the third day of our training, and he was becoming impatient and undisciplined. The last thing I want is for the Avatar to turn out like my old student, an evil sadistic murderer.

"You are becoming undisciplined. If you keep up this attitude, I will be forced to not accept you as a student of mine. My last pupil was just as undisciplined as you, and look how he turned out; evil and out of control, no restraints and apt to destroy everything before he admits his bending has gotten out of hand. Fire is a curse I would wish on no one, and it has ruined the world," I lectured, "If you cannot be more patient, you can leave."

And with that the boy left, stomping out of my tent.

Hours later, I exited from my meditation session only to find the Avatar sitting on a rock, meditating peacefully. "I am sorry," he said, "I was too impatient and in a hurry to get to what I believed was 'real' firebending. I would be grateful if you would once again accept me as a pupil who will do as you wish in a patient manner."

Well that was definitely a surprise. "We will work with fire now." I was unsurprised to see him jump up in the air with a shout.

As I raised my eyebrows, he calmed immediately and stood at attention, "I mean, let us begin." I snorted at his face, which was straining to remain calm.

Snatching a leaf from the air, I lit it to a smoldering mush in the middle, and handed it to him. "Try to keep the fire from reaching the edge of the leaf for as long as you can."

"But," Aang started to complain, but stopped himself and began to focus on the leaf. "So, how's fishing going, Sokka?" He called out to the boy at the edge of the river with a fishing pole in his hand.

"Shhh! Do not speak. Look at the waterbenders practicing by the river. Do they speak as they go through their movements? No. Focus" I reprimanded and Aang gave a frustrated sigh. I looked over at the waterbenders, who were not using water at the moment, just pushing their way through the forms. Water was such a graceful element; I wish I was a waterbender. Then the taller one in the pants with the skirt tied around it spoke to the girl in the blue dress. I don't know what she said, but the girl in the dress nodded and leaned over the water, pulling up the element and shifting through the forms while the other one looked on. She nodded her approval, and the other smiled. They both took their stances over the water this time, and I was expecting the one teaching to perform a harmonized version of the bending; there is nothing I like more than harmonized waterbending where the two people work together to create beautiful movements, but she just followed the same pattern as before, still no water. It was like she knew how to waterbend, but she couldn't physically do so. Weird.

"I will be right back," I told the Avatar and I went off to see what the problem was in the woods surrounding the river. I could smell smoke, and smoke was never good.

**Korra's Point of View**

After Jeong Jeong left, Aang sighed frustratedly and slumped from his perfect posture. "Hey, Aang," I called, and he perked up only to hear me say, "Fix your stance."

He fixed it, and looked thoughtfully at the leaf in his hands. "This is boring," he said, and glared at the leaf as if it was his enemy.

"Hey, I went through some of the same stuff, it gets better, don't worry," I tried to comfort him.

His eyes lit up and he looked around the woods for Jeong Jeong. Shoot, he was going to do yet another stupid thing. He began taking deep breaths, and after a minute, lit a fire in his palms. Katara stopped bending and went over to look. "That's great, Aang, but maybe you should slow down," she suggested gently in her Katara-like way.

He began tossing the fire from hand to hand, and circling it around his body, "Now, how did that guy at the festival do it?" He muttered and started shifting his weight in a different stance, one I recognized from the festival, the circle of flame around the performer. Damn.

"No! Aa-" I got by a scream as he succeeded in doing the simple move way to out of control, and it flamed up in a circle that rushed Katara; she threw her hands up, but it was too late.

"Katara!" he screamed, and she sobbed. I ran over to her just as Aang to her crying form.

"Aang, leave it, burns can be nasty."

Then we heard a voice boom from behind us, "What did you do to my sister?"

Aang turned quickly, "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry."

"Get away from her!"

At Sokka's statement, Katara got up, holding her hands in front of her like they were diseased, and ran off into the woods. I felt compelled to follow, and left Sokka screeching at a terrified and remorseful Aang.

I found her at a calmer eddy, crying and wincing as she dipped her hands in the water; it began to glow blue, and she looked at it, astonished, and even more so when she lifted her hands from it only to discover that they were no longer burned. "It's a healing ability, the best waterbenders sometimes can do that," I told her as she gaped at her hands. "A rare gift." I smiled and sat down next to her.

"You'll be fine, but you need to let Aang know that," I told her and she sighed and followed me back to camp, to find Sokka still screaming at Aang. She smiled, and her cheeks crinkled where the dried tracks of tears had run down.

"I'm fine, Sokka and Aang," she was totally calm and mother-like, something I doubt I will ever be.

"You… you're okay?" Aang asked, his big, scared eyes looking up at her face.

"Fine."

"Umm, guys?" I stated quietly, just now realizing that something was wrong. "Is it just me, or is there an abnormal amount of smoke over there?" Jeong Jeong still hadn't returned either. Damn. With that thought, and a confused and scared look that we all shared, we took off running for the riverside.

I burst through the trees first, and Aang right behind me, to find a very pissed off Admiral Zhao ordering his soldiers get Jeong Jeong. I unsheathed my swords, and I could hear Katara uncapping her canteen of water. "Well, well, well, look at who we have here," the admiral gave us the same creepy smile he had always been giving us. Jeong Jeong chose that moment to explode in a burst of fire, leaving us behind, but taking down a slew of soldiers. "Let's see what my old teacher has taught you."

"_You_ are Jeong Jeong's old student?" I heard Aang gape and then steel himself for attack, "He taught me enough to beat you." Then they took off. As Katara and Sokka ran off to deal with the soldiers who were still up and counting, I was left to watch Aang deflect firebending blow after firebending blow. If I had my firebending, I could kick this guy's ass, that is how many gaping holes he left in he work, but I didn't, and Aang couldn't. The Avatar jumped around, taunting Zhao as he went, "You call _that_ firebending?" What was Aang… playing… at… he was toying with Zhao. The admiral's biggest flaw was his obvious lack of self-control, and when Aang jumped onto the first ship, I knew his plan. I smiled at Aang's ingenuity as he ducked and weaved through the windows and corners of the ships, and began running closer for a better view of the fight. This was going to turn out well.

"Ha. You stink at firebending more that you reek of… suckiness," Aang finished lamely, but it still got the desired effect. Zhao roared, and came up onto the boats, cornering Aang in the cabin of one of the last. It was burning slowly, but Zhao was pulling his hand back to let loose a ferocious fire punch right into Aang's face. He would end up like Zuko. Or worse. I leapt onto the boat and hit Zhao's strong armor with the both of my swords, shoving him to the side and forcing his fireball to fly far to the right of Aang, who jumped out the window, beckoning for me to follow. He and it stood at the very tip of the bow of the boat, preparing to jump to shore, when Zhao stumbled out of the cabin. "I think I won this fight," Aang stated and Zhao frowned, confused.

"You haven't even thrown a single punch!"

I jumped in, "But you have."

As he looked around at his three burning ships, Aang and I jumped ship, and onto Appa, who was being piloted by Sokka. As we flew away, I blew Zhao a kiss, and held up my two swords, hoping he'd recognize them from the escape of Pohuai. He did, and his eyes grew wide and angry. "Ha," I shouted down to him, I don't think he heard me, but he got the message.

As we flew away, we could see Zhao sitting on the beach, shaking a fist at our most likely disappearing form. One of the ships made a loud snapping noise and fell into the water, causing a wave to come up and land on Zhao. He deserved it.

* * *

_***Just saying, nobody needs to feel required to read my random ramblings. I tend to go on... and on... and on...***_

* * *

**Whoa. This chapter was a doozy. Despite the fact it took me hours to write, and I finally finished before my *vacation* time without a computer. (Those weren't quotes, I'm just really excited :) I get on and the website and I'm banned from updating for two or three days. Damn. It turns out that one of my stories was deleted from the site because it 'didn't follow guidelines', but they won't email back and tell me what guideline I violated. It is really starting to piss me off. (Pardon the language) As far as I know, it was a perfectly legitimate story/collection of poems. Sorry. You probably don't want to listen to me gripe. **

**...  
**

**Thanks for reading!  
**

* * *

**So, this was supposed to be published while I was on vacation by a friend, and they couldn't figure out how to work the site. Darn. So you people had to wait... what was it... two weeks? I apologize, and I also apologize in advance about how I barely worked on the next chapter after this, I have like four lines after over sixty hours of driving. And I wasn't the driver. I feel terrible. Blame the awesomeness of watching Criminal Minds on my ipad. And writing bad Criminal Minds fanfic in my notebook instead of concentrating on what was important. Oops. So feel free to be a little miffed.**

* * *

**And here are some Review Responses... I plan on responding to three reviews that I got in the last chapter from now on, questions? comments? concerns? Review!  
**

**_StrawberryStoleYourCookie_- You reviewed on every single chapter! And gave me constructive criticism! Sorry about the comma splices, I try, I really do, but that is the long rambly-ness of me, and my tendency to use to many commas in the wrong ways. Sorry.  
**

**_Engineer4Ever-*_shhhhhhhh* Yep. Predictable story, I know. My plan for Season Two is totally whack, though, and you won't figure out my plan so easily *devious grin* Thanks for following the story.  
**

**_15dragondream-_ I am attempting to up the humor, glad its working :)  
**

****_Zuko will give you a hug if you review. The nice Zuko from Season Three. I will make him.  
_


	8. The Northern Air Temple

**Korra's****Point of View**  
We were still flying. This trip was even more boring than I expected, and I expected hours upon hours of sitting, an aching butt, staring out into an endless blue abyss, and very few conversations. No one had said a word since Katara's scolding of Sokka when he had complained of the dreary food we had for breakfast. Even cheerful Aang seemed to be getting travelers sickness and depression. We should've bison-pooled with some more interesting people. Like Zuko, he was funny in a depressed, 'I am going to kill you soon' sort of way. Someone drew in a breath, like they were about to say something, and we all looked to the direction of the gasp: Aang.  
"I want to go to the Northern Air Temple; it won't be much of a stop, but I'd like to see it," Aang stated as Appa grew closer to the site.  
"Aang, we can't take that much of a detour - we are late enough as it is," argued Katara, and she was right. We spent days at Jeong Jeong's fort, only to have Aang proclaim that he was never going to firebend again – not the most productive of days we'd spent. And from what Katara and Sokka told me about the Southern Air Temple, with Aang getting really overemotional about seeing the bodies of his people lying broken and burned on the ground, not that I wouldn't, but the last thing we need is for Aang to get into a lengthy Avatar State.  
"Please, Katara, I... I just want to see...," he just wants to see that his people are alive and in hiding, he wants to see them welcome him and smile, and accept him and forgive him for what happened. He was hoping that that would be the case, but it wouldn't be, and we all knew that, even Aang. He was just setting himself for heartbreak all over again.  
I was mentally begging Katara not to give in, but the next thing I heard was an, "All right, but we have to be out of there ASAP, no staying overnight or anything." Damn, Katara! Could you not have a backbone for once? For the love of firebending, you dote on Aang like he is your son!  
"I don't think we should go, sorry, Aang," I jumped in, and Sokka nodded in agreement with me.  
"Korra's instincts were right before – we should trust them now," he argued. I raised my eyebrows, in an 'I told you so' way, much to Katara's annoyance.  
"You don't know how much this means to Aang, Korra, he needs this," Katara continued to argue,  
"I don't know how it feels to have your entire people wiped off the face of the earth, but I do know when people are just setting themselves up for disappointment, and that is never a good idea."  
"Korra!" Katara screeched indignantly at my frank statement, obviously she didn't like the comment about the airbenders being wiped off the face of the earth. "We are going, these are his _people,_"she ordered as Aang turned Appa slightly to the west, heading towards the Temple. Regardless of my opinion, of course. And, since Aang was in charge of steering, it didn't really matter what we thought.  
It only took ten minutes to see the first of the spires, and another ten to see the upper part of the entire thing, and it was magnificent. I'd never gotten to see a real air temple before, and it was crazy-ass huge, with tall elegant towers. As we descended, we caught a glimpse of something that had to be impossible. Airbenders.  
There were airbenders gliding through the air, and Katara gasped as she saw them swoop up and down on their gliders, "Aang! Airbenders!"  
I stood up, and Katara gave me her 'I told you so' look, which mainly involved an smirk and a glare. But I've seen airbenders, Aang, and if I closed my eyes and focused, I could see flashes of a smiling girl in an outfit a lot like Aang's, a glaring man with a beard and a familiar face, a frowning girl with brown hair, and a bald boy blowing a snot bubble while meditating. The smiling girl's smile grew wider, and I just knew that these people were airbenders, but the flyers were not; the boy's snot bubble popped, and I was looking at the gliders again.  
"Those aren't airbenders," Aang and I stated at the same time, and he turned to look at me. I was trying to remember, the girl, the bearded man, I was trying to hold onto their images in my mind's eye, but I had nothing, just a memory of a memory. "I could see them, the real airbenders," I explained, "And those people aren't airbenders."  
"But they're flying!" Sokka argued in a shocked, breathy voice.  
"They aren't airbenders, they aren't...free," Aang said as he looked at the people; we were getting closer to them, and some were giving us funny looks.  
A boy in a flying wheelchair came close, and I could see that he wasn't bending the air; it was much more obvious the closer you got to them. He flew a loop-de-loop around us; he was showing off.  
Aang didn't exactly like that, the impostors flying around us, and he grabbed his glider and took off. He waited until the flying boy was closer, and when he was in jumping distance, he jumped straight off Appa, leaving his glider closed. Some of the others saw him jump, and started diving after him, trying to be the one who saved him. As soon as he fell below the cloud cover, he must have flicked open his staff, because the next time we saw him, he was flying straight up into the air, shocking all the others. Showing off.  
The flying kid in the wheelchair narrowed his eyes, and Aang did the same. As if they had a signal between them, the others dropped to a landing stage on one side of the Temple, leaving Aang and the wheelchair-kid to have an air battle in the sky alone.  
So, their air battle was a little boring. Cool in the beginning, but boring towards the end. There is only so much airbending I can take at one time, even fake airbending, and after five minutes of these boys duking it out, I was tried of seeing loop de loops. Aang tried to spice things up actually airbending on a wall, but was pretty much shut down by the wheelchair-kids smoke image of a glaring Aang. It was surprisingly accurate. Anyway. Massive amounts of circling around each other, and after ten minutes of whooping and hollering every time Aang did something, I was really put out. I know I can airbend, I really can, I'm the Avatar, for La's sake. The Avatar can airbend, and doesn't just sit here watching others do it. For a second there, I was sorely tempted to jump off of Appa myself, and perhaps airbend in a fit of panic. Possibly. Not likely. I couldn't even waterbend anymore. Even as the heavy weight of realization settled on my chest again, it lightened as Aang and the kid wound up, the kid landing on a large stage area set up for the purpose, and Aang standing on Appa's furry head proudly as the giant beast landed on the landing stage.  
"Wow, you're good!" said the kid as Aang did a fifteen foot jump up above Appa's head and landed on the ground lightly. "You're an airbender! What's your name? I'm Teo," he gushed excitedly.

Aang's angry resolve at the imposters seemed to break when he looked at Teo's smiling face, and he gave a small grin, "Aang, nice to meet you."

"Aang?" The kid's face scrunched up for a minute, until a look of realization swept through him like a wave; he sat up straighter and his eyes shone as he said," You must be the Avatar! I've heard stories about you – god, this is amazing!"

Aang blushed a little, and Sokka stepped forward, trying to end the awkwardness of the situation by saying something. "That's a really cool flying chair, how does it work?"

Teo snorted, and smiled at Katara's brother's curiosity, but answered anyway, "We ride the wind currents, and if you think that's cool, then you should see some of the other stuff my dad makes." Teo began rolling his wheelchair, and we dutifully followed, eager to meet his father. Or, at least, everyone else was. This is crazy, really, it is. We should be on our way to the North Pole so that I can learn waterbending. And Aang. Aang can learn waterbending, too.

"So, Teo, why are you guys here in the Air Temple?" I asked, trying to get a little conversation going as we were walking through the dark hallways. There were pipes everywhere, and an annoying dripping sound was really beginning to get on my nerves. I snuck a glance over at Aang, who was looking around the hallway in shock. See, what'd I tell everyone; he set himself up for disappointment. The Air Temple most certainly wasn't like this a hundred years ago, unlike Aang was expecting.

"I don't know the full story," Teo began, and bit his lip, "But something happened in my village when I was small, and we all came here for refuge. It seemed like the safest place to my father, I guess." Aang's disappointed look turned around as soon as he heard that the Air Temples were looked upon as safe; I suppose it comforted him that they could still be refuges even after the death of the monks that resided here.

But, that wasn't any excuse for the pipes and steam leaking from them. Aang seemed agitated at the technology, Katara didn't seem to care; Sokka and I were a whole different story.

Sokka was fascinated by the whole operation, the pipes moving water and steam, the metal weaving its way in and out of the wall; he reveled in the thought that a non-bender made this happen and that it was possible. I, on the other hand, was comforted by the metal wrapping itself around me and the group. It seemed normal, almost like I was home. I looked up at the ceiling, and wondered if this is what home was like, my real home, just as a drop of water fell down from the pipe, landing right in my eye.

"Oh, for the love of firebending!" I cursed as I shook my head. That certainly was unexpected.

"Firebending?" Teo asked sullenly as he stopped his chair from going any further.

"Yes, firebending. The process where fire comes out of your hands and feet," I muttered as I tried to blink the dirt that was in the water out of my eye.

Teo took a deep breath and glared at me, "So you're a firebender."

I was pretty sure the world stopped. Aang looked at me, wondering what I would say, and Katara and Sokka looked away, positive I would say something stupid. "Yep. Totally a firebender," I stated sarcastically, "Geez, no, kid. I'm a non-bender. That's just a saying."

Even as Katara and Sokka relaxed at me casually brushing off the accusation, my heart sank. We began walking again, but all I could think about was the fact that I had just called myself a non-bender. A non-bender. I couldn't bend. For some reason I thought of the mask that I had left lying in the dirt of Jeong Jeong's camp, and shivered.

We came to a door, and after Teo knocked on it, then opened it and peeked inside, he said, "Dad must not be here right now, who knows where he'll be," he scrunched up his face again, then brightened, "I could give you guys a tour, want one?"

Aang quickly nodded in agreement, and I almost screamed at him. We had to get to the North Pole, so… he could learn waterbending, and I could call myself a waterbender and not a non-bender. We started walking down the hall to probably yet another room, when Aang asked _the_ question. "Is there any part of the Temple that isn't changed?"

I sighed. There it was, heartbreak for the airbender kid. But, to my surprise, Teo replied, "Ya, actually. I can take you there."

Well then. We started walking again, going down another hall, this one more naturally beautiful that the one filled with pipes, although less comforting to me. Aang, however, did like the one side of the hall that was open to the air, and the spectacular view it held. You could see for miles below the mountain, and, if you looked hard enough, could make out a small village at its base.

Aang's smile broadened as Teo brought us into an open courtyard that had the statues of ancient airbending masters, all of whom had the airbending tattoos. Aang grinned and ran over to one, laughing and pointing, "This was Airbending master Xiu-Ching. He told the funniest jokes, and always had time for me and Gyatso. And he'd scrunch his face up like this," Aang demonstrated by squishing his eyebrows together and pulling his lips up to his nose in a stereotypical scrunch, "To make the little kids stop crying."

Just as Aang turned back to the staute, and as the rest of us were giggling softly at Aang's antics, a giant black ball slammed into Xiu-Ching's torso, demolishing the statue and leaving a cloud of dust behind.

When the dust cleared, we all saw Aang staring at the spot where the statue had been, and saw him look down as Ching's head rolled into his foot. "Watch out! Goodness gracious, don't go walking straight into a construction zone, that's dangerous!" Some guy yelled as he started running towards us, and Teo gave him a frustrated look.

"_Dad..."_He stressed, and gave the older man a look of pure exasperation.

Aang, on the other hand, did not take the destruction as lightly. He whirled around, holding his staff up and in the man's face, which had a look of shock and surprise on it. The man's hands went into the air, just touching his head as he looked cross-eyed down the shaft of the glider. Aang screamed at him, "Who do you think you are? You are destroying a sacred Temple! And for what?"

And the man, the idiot he was, responded weakly with, "The Bathhouses." Does the pissed off guy with the stick not seem pissed off enough? Is this guy kidding with him, with all of us?

"The_Bathhouses_? You are destroying priceless Temple artifacts for the bathhouses?" Aang was reaching his boiling point; I could see the beginnings of something big. I had never actually been in the Avatar State myself, but I knew it in theory, and this seemed like a prime opportunity for an angry Avatar to go into the State.

"Well, yes. We all are becoming rather dirty," the man argued, and sniffed his armpit, only to recoil like he had smelled something particularly nasty, which he probably had.

I saw Aang tense up to move a fraction of a second before he actually sprang into action. I side-tackled the grungy guy, bringing him down as Aang's staff stopped an inch from where the man's head had been. Always the pacifist, Aang wouldn't have hit him, but I didn't really want to take that chance; a guy with his head bludgeoned in wouldn't do much to boost Aang's confidence in himself.

Aang took in a big breath and opened his glider, taking to the air, and leaving Katara and I to clean up the mess he left. Honestly, is this all there is to being the Avatar's sidekick? I swear to myself that I'll never go do something stupid and leave it for my sidekicks when I get back. If I get back.

I, too, took a big breath, but immediately started choking on the air. This guy was right; he does smell like an unearthed badgermole. An unearthed badgermole that's been digging through a pile of crap. Ick. Scrambling off him, I started to apologize.

"Sorry about that. He gets a little touchy about people destroying his cultural heritage. He'll get over it," I started and Katara glared at me.

"What she means is that Aang gets upset whenever he sees something that isn't in perfect condition, like it's supposed to be. We're sorry for any trouble we may have caused," she explained, ever the diplomat.

"Your friend there is an airbender? Well consider me flabbergasted. I'm the mechanist. You can call me Jinzhan, or just plain Jin for short," the guy stuck out his hand, and Sokka pushed through Katara and I to shake it.

"Just from what I've seen so far, I'm a huge fan of your work, great stuff you have here," Sokka started gushing, until Katara kicked the back of his leg, shutting him up pretty effectively.

Teo piped in, "He's the Avatar, too, Dad."

"Oh dear. It seems we've insulted him, will he be alright, dear girl?" Jin asked, turning towards me.

"You think you insulted him? We're lucky he's not in the Avatar State right now, you wrecked his…" I was cut off by Katara.

"Aang will be fine, Jinzhan, thanks." I rolled my eyes. He'll be fine eventually. I hoped the Eastern and Western Air Temples weren't like this, too, or he'll go crazy and wipe out the whole world. And that wouldn't be good at all.

Sokka bumped his way past me again, and went up to Jin, "I've seen some of this stuff, and it's amazing! I love the way the pipes…"

We didn't have to listen to the rest thanks to Teo, who wheeled his way over to us, "Let's go find Aang, there still is one more untouched area in the Temple."

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

He was right, and evidentially Aang wanted it to remain that way. Teo had shown us the inner sanctuary, and politely requested Aang open it with his crazy-awesome airbending skills; he was turned down by a nostalgic Aang who wished it to remain untouched by the crazy mechanist. Alright, Teo didn't actually say 'crazy-awesome airbending skills' but you could hear it in his voice, he was very reverent.

After Aang said no, a very disappointed Teo took us outside to go flying._Flying._Katara refused to get on any glider, and I refuse to trust a glider with my life, visions of a fall from an airbison flashing in my mind.

"C'mon, Katara, gliding is a classic bit of airbending culture, you have to try," Aang begged and pleaded as Katara resolutely remained on firm ground.

After ten or so minutes of Aang's poking and prodding at Katara, and a few jabs at me, Teo stepped in, "Guys, I can fly, and you can too; you just refuse to. You can fly, it really isn't that hard…" He finished off his little shcpeel with a gesture towards the two unused gliders in the corner of the landing stage.

I sighed, "I suppose I have to… Don't want to go developing a fear of heights, now, do I?"

Katara giggled and started walking over to the gliders, picking out the deep-blue colored one and beginning to strap herself in. "No, I think that would be a bad idea. And we can do this, we fly on Appa all the time, this is just like that."

I grabbed the handlebar, and she did the same, "This is a terrible idea. I am trusting my life to a flimsy piece of paper," I commented, and she glared at me.

"If you back out on me now, Korra, I will throw you off that cliff with no glider. Aang can do it, Teo can do it, we can do it," she said, and she started running towards the edge.

I wasn't far behind, her motivational speech working wonders on my confidence. What exactly was I thinking that could happen out there, the worst thing that could happen would be me swallowing a bug. Even with the speech, I saw Katara close her eyes as she jumped off the edge of the cliff; I did the same.

With my eyes squeezed shut, I didn't see anything of what was happening; I didn't, however, feel like I was falling. When I felt myself flying into an updraft, I finally opened my eyes. I really was flying, just like an airbender. Flying. The ground was so far below me, but all I could think about was going up. I felt an ache in my arms, the very same ache I feel when I try to go through my waterbending stances and don't have any water following me. If I was back in my time, I could be airbending right now. But for now, I would have to go where the winds took me, and right now that was behind Katara. I heard a swooshing sound, and Aang pulled up right beside me, giving me a silly grin.

"Don't open your mouth, you'll swallow a bug," he advised, and flew on a little faster, presumably to give Katara the same warning.

It came a little late, however, because when she saw Aang smiling at her she opened her mouth to say hello and immediately began choking on a fly. "Swallowed… a bug… gross," she coughed out as she whooshed by in the air.

"Hey, Teo!" I called down to the boy beneath us, "How do you get down from here?" Even as I said it, I felt a gentle breeze steer my towards the landing stage; the same was happening to Katara, who looked at me in confusion, her mouth firmly closed.

"It's Aang," I yelled over to her, and she nodded.

Once we landed on the hard ground, we could barely walk. "Don't worry, you'll get your land legs back soon – the first time air legs don't last long," Teo explained as we staggered towards the rest of the Temple.

"I was thinking," Aang began, and we all turned to him to see what he had to say, "That maybe I could open up the sanctuary for you, Teo. Just for a little while. You guys all seem so well-meaning that… I guess I just want you to see what a real Air Temple should look like."

Teo beamed, "Really? I've always wanted to know what was inside and now I get to and… thanks so much!"

We walked through the hallways in mostly silence; well, Teo and Aang walked, Katara and I lumbered. We were barely up in the air for a half an hour and we couldn't walk right. That really wasn't cool.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

The door that lead to the sanctuary, on the other hand, was one of the coolest doors I'd ever seen. It was huge and ornate and had what looked like a large ram's horn as the lock, the most exquisite thing I'd seen in this past world. As Aang opened it, the Air Nomad symbols along the horn flipped over, and once all three were flipped, the door opened to reveal what was inside.

The Fire Nation. The Fire Nation had taken over this part of the Temple. Everything was either a shade of red or gold; everything but the shocked mechanist in the corner of the room, holding a miniature balloon that matched the big one in the center of the room. The large one had the Fire Nation emblem on it, and looked ready for use. Teo froze in shock, the look on his face eerily similar to Jinzhan's, and Aang tensed up in fury again; only Katara's soothing touch on his arm kept him from going into the Avatar State right then and there.

"What in the name of waterbending is going on here?" I yelled, and everyone else remained frozen in shock, or shaking in anger. This man, this terrible, terrible man was working for the Fire Nation.

When Jin spoke, his voice cracked, "I… I can explain…"

"You defaced the sacred sanctuary for the sake of the Fire Nation!" Aang spluttered in shock. We all knew that this fellow had destroyed everything about the Air Nomad Temple that was remotely related to the Air Nomads, but still, this was overkill. Working for the Fire Nation? Was this all one elaborate trap?

"I…I..."

Teo spoke then, and the sadness and betrayal in his voice was evident and torturous, "Dad. The Fire Nation?"

"I… They… They threatened me. They found out we were living here, and they threatened to destroy everything, the Temple, the progress, the people, everything," he said as he took a step towards his son. Teo responded by turning his wheelchair around as fast as he could, and rolling out the door.

Jin tried running after him, but I stuck out my arm and stopped him. "Whoa there, Jin. No way are you just running out like that," I grabbed his apron and pulled him closer so I was looking straight into his nervous eyes, "Is the Fire Nation coming here?"

"Not for… well… sort of a…"

"Tell me!" I yelled as I shook his small frame. The man was shorter than me, and weighed much less, too.

He gulped, his eyes flitting around as if he was trying to find an escape, "Yes, but not for you. They want my latest invention; that was the deal, you see, my inventions in exchange for us living here in peace." I dropped him, his legs crumpling beneath him as he landed on the hard stone floor.

"Destroy the balloon, Katara. Aang, go get Appa ready, I'll go find Sokka," I strategized, but my part in the strategy wasn't exactly necessary, as no less than five seconds after I spoke, there was a creaking in the corner.

The wall opened, and a very confused Sokka came out of the door, which had obviously been built by the wayward mechanist to access the sanctuary. "What is going on here?" he screeched, his voice rising an octave in surprise as he took in the red and gold coloring of the room.

"Our friend Jin here works for the Fire Nation," Katara explained, and Sokka went pale.

"You… You can't destroy the balloon, leave if you want, but I need the balloon!" the mechanist begged as Katara started walking towards the balloon. "The Fire Nation, they want it today, if I don't give it to them, they'll burn the Temple down with my village inside!"

"You work for the Fire Nation?" Sokka asked, shocked, as he tried to grasp the situation.

"I didn't have a choice," Jinzhan moaned, and put his head in his hands. "My village was flooded when Teo was only a few months old, there was so much destruction. The entire place was underwater, and Teo's mother had died the day before a rock smashed his legs. There was no other place I could go!"

"That doesn't explain why you work for the Fire Nation," Aang stated coldly, holding his glider like a quarterstaff and ready for action.

"They found out we were up here," Jin continued, "They said that this place was property of the Fire Nation and that we were trespassing on Fire Lord Azulon's land. They ordered me to give them my inventions as payment for not being killed for being here." He took a giant breath, and we could see there were tears in his eyes. "I just want a life for my boy. I swear they aren't paying me in anything but not killing us all, just let me give them the balloon."

I looked at Aang, who was looking at Jin with an expression of shock and pity on his features, "We can't let you give the Fire Nation this new technology."

"Or any of this other technology," called Sokka from over by the mechanist's desk, "Drills, airships, this is an arsenal waiting to be made."

I sighed, and asked, "When are they coming?"

"Warlord Quin is coming in less than an hour," he answered dejectedly, "And he is sure to have a large force of men with him."

I shared a glance with Katara, who seemed to be thinking along the same lines as me. "We'll help you defend yourselves," she said calmly, and Jin turned to look at her in amazement.

"Got any weapons?" I asked, turning around, "We can get them as they are going up the mountain's narrow pass."

"I have bombs. Ones that explode on contact and stink bombs. And I have poison gas bombs if they are needed," the mechanist said as he brushed off his apron and looked at us gratefully, but sadly as well. "You know, as soon as you leave, they will come back. We are going to have to relocate."

I shook my head, "I'm sorry about that. But we can help you ward them off long enough to get away. That is going to have to be good enough."

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXXxxx

We were in a pretty much full-fledged battle scene in just over three hours. I don't think I've ever actually killed someone in my life, but every single time I dropped one of Jinzhan's killer bombs, someone died. I was on a glider, swooping down and up, dropping the murder weapons here and there and everywhere.

Aang, ever the pacifist, restricted himself to stink bombs placed strategically around the base of the mountain to drive them off, but the screams of the dying was a little too much for him to bear. After the first few bombs were dropped, he moved to resupplying with Katara on Appa, and didn't come back.

I dropped down over a group of soldiers who were looking up at my form in the clouds with dismay written clearly on their faces. I suppose I sort of looked like an Angel Spirit of Death when my face was obscured, but that didn't stop one of them from shooting a fireblast dangerously close to the glider. After I dropped the bomb, I spun the glider around to catch the updraft, and soared up in synch with the screams of the soldiers. I can't say I haven't killed, anymore.

The battle raged on and on, and we were beginning to run out of bombs. Fortunately, Quin was also running out of expendable soldiers; he was sending in one last wave while the remaining force retreated. They would be back, of course, but by then the mechanist Jinzhan and his village of flyers would be long gone. During the last wave, I remained on Appa, in sort of a shocked state. I had killed so many people, and they _were_ people, even if they were Fire Nation. They still screamed and bled like the rest of us, despite the fact that they gave off an aura of invincibility.

We moved on not long after the final wave, Sokka jumping onto Appa and flying off; the rest of us were already on the saddle. None of us got a wink of sleep last night, the horrors of war truly hitting home. I was honestly afraid of seeing the dead eyes of soldiers dressed in red in my dreams.

_**Thanks to all who read and reviewed, I am already a quarter of the way done with the next chappie (which should be decently exciting:), and won't take like three weeks to update. Apologies. And no Zuko-hug for me :(**_

_**And now for reviewer comments :)**_

_****_**StrawberryStoleYourCookie - **My marvelous, magnificant beta, I cannot thank you enough :) And yes, I realize my rushing issue :( It is a problem I am constantly battling, but I am getting better :) If you go back and look at my story, 'Enter Five WITCHs' you can see the horrible horrible terrible disgusting work I used to produce :( And thanks for caring about the deleted story I don't write explicit stuff, and this was just a collection of abstract poetry, so I can really grasp what the deal was... Ah well. Too bad. Thanks for everything :)

**TheOneWithTheShortHair - **Wish granted, however evil the wish is. Throughout the story, I will be portraying Zuko as a nice but mislead guy, not someone evil, but each to their own. First Season Zuko is yours to hug, and cause pain to. TheOneWithTheShortHair's review went like this : _I want to hug first season Zuko though, and kick him in the balls. Great story, I really love it. _There you go. And thanks for the reviews, I appreciate it :) and funny comment :) Made me laugh :)

**Engineer4Ever - **Dammit! Not again! How is my meager plotline that predictable? Glad to know you are keeping up :) Most of the upcoming fight scene is for you :)

**Rhia-of-Themyscira- **You caught that :) I wasn't sure if anyone would, I wasn't the most descriptive, but good for you :)

**Myra the Sark- **love. You are so kind, I just have to love you for it :)

_**And these people get Zuko-hugs...**_

_****__chocolate-luver21_

_StrawberryStoleYourCookie  
_

_TheOneWithTheShortHair  
_

_HarryPotterForLife7  
_

_nequam-tenshi  
_

_Randomstuff4all  
_

_Myra the Sark  
_

_Elements Angel and Yami Chaos  
_

_15dragondream  
_

_Rhia-of-Themyscira  
_

_DramaRose13  
_

_Engineer4Ever  
_

**And here is the mandatory griping session that I must vent through. And this chappie it is about Pottermore. Which Sorted me into the 'wrong house'. Now, none of you Harry Potter fans go giving me crap about complaining, but J.K. Rowling doesn't always know me better then I know myself, and she made a point in the books saying that '**_**The Sorting Hat takes your choice into account' **_**. I will live with what I got, thank you very much, but if anyone can correctly guess what House I was Sorted into, and what House I have always thought I belonged in, I will give you a plot call. **

**How this works: drop me a review with your guess, and if you are the first one to get it right, I will PM you and ask what little blip you want in the story, nothing insanely major, like Korra killing off Zuko, but a little romantic moment that doesn't work out, or a shot of Zuko teaching Korra to play the tsungi horn or something, it will show up in either the Season Two or Season Three time area, or the in-between zone if you so desire.  
**

_**And Zuko-hugs to anyone who bothers to review :) love to you all :)**_


	9. That CowPig Pakku

**Korra's Point of View**

It had been days since Appa had last landed on solid ground, and over a week since the battle at the Air Temple. We were all roughed up from the battle; I don't think I've ever seen a dead body before then. But we were all going to have to get over it.

We were becoming travel-weary as well. Even Appa was beginning to become tired of flying for more than half the day, and resting on freezing ice. "When'll we get there?" Sokka moaned as he stared out at the ice, "I never knew there was so much water in the world,"

"We'll get there eventually. Wanna train again?" I answered. Sokka and I had been practicing by battling each other, and I had gotten significantly better at my dao blades.

"Nah. We trained an hour ago and Appa was lurching again." Sometimes Appa became a little unbalanced when we started shifting weight, and it was never a good idea to push his balance too much. I sighed.

"Katara, waterbending forms?" I asked hopefully.

"Maybe later. I'm just not feeling it. Or anything for that matter," she replied.

"Ugh. I'm dying out here. Why can't we go somewhere?" I moaned, and Sokka snorted.

"That's what I was saying a minute ago," he said.

"Well, now I'm saying it," I snapped. We were all silent for a minute and then I got up. Finding a good point of balance, I started to go through forms.

This time, they weren't waterbending forms - I was too tired of those – but instead, firebending forms. It was an ancient set that was hardwired into my muscles and going through the forms felt good. "What on earth are you doing?" Katara asked.

I turned towards her, a little upset that she was interrupting my thing, and stated, "Practicing firebending. I can't forget anything."

"Well, don't you think that isn't the most intelligent of things while we are on the way to the water tribe, whose enemy is the Fire Nation?"

"No. No I don't. There isn't a soul out here, Katara, and we are never going to find the Tribe."

"Not at this rate," grumbled Sokka, who was listening to our argument.

"What'd you say, Sokka?" called an angry sounding Aang from the furry head of the bison, "'Cause I thought I heard you say that Appa was going to slow."

"I did. He's poking along, and look how close he is to the water," snapped Sokka back at Aang.

"I can't believe you. Why don't we all pile on your back and have you drag us to the North Pole?"

"I can't believe that you can't make him go faster!"

"I can't believe that you are complaining about Appa, who is the one towing us across the ocean."

"I can't believe that-" Sokka was cut off by Katara's angry voice.

"You idiots! We have been traveling for days on end with nothing but ocean, and the worst thing that you two can do is argue. The end," she snapped, "We are all tired of this, and the sooner we get to the Pole, the better for all of us."

Sokka turned to his sister, "Get to the Pole? We are never going to make it! Not on-" That was when they struck.

There was a whizzing sound and a cord of ice flew over Appa's neck and landed on the other side. It was like magic, all of a sudden, there were two barges beside us, one on both sides; and they did not seem friendly. Another whizzing sound was accompanied by another cord, this one across Appa's butt, and there were battle shouts from the barges as the men down there used the cords to pull Appa into the water.

Katara and Aang assumed their bending stances, Sokka grabbed his club-thing, and I reached for my blades when the first of them came aboard. He was a man in his late twenties, and was wielding water like he had been doing it all his life – which he probably had. These were Northern Water Tribe members, and they weren't being nice. He turned to face Sokka, who was coming at him with the club-thing, and waterbended the stuff from his waterskin into ice freezing Sokka's feet. That unbalanced him enough that he fell over, allowing the bender to waterbend his hands to the saddle using ice. Then he turned his attention towards me; I was now armed and ready to go. And man, I needed to be ready. It wasn't easy fighting a bender one-on-one when you are not the most experienced with your weapons, and this bender was no exception. I ended up dodging a tendril of ice and whacking him on the head, throwing him to the ground. While he was reeling from the hit with the flat of my blade, I took the opportunity to scream in his face, "We are on your crazy side, for the love of waterbending."

I felt some water creeping around my wrist, just iced enough to pull, and water enough to be flexible; I spun around and screamed again, "We are on your side!" There was water everywhere, there must have been ten benders, and at least five were focused on me. There were ice tendrils everywhere, I spun around with my blades, slicing and hacking at the water until all that was left was small little ice cubes on the ground. But, there were always more.

The short battle was over soon, ending with an unconscious Katara, Aang in ice handcuffs, Sokka frozen to the saddle and I was in an ice block that left my face open to the air, my swords frozen in a position above my head as I reached up to kill another ice snake. Damn. I was close with the estimating, there were twelve waterbenders there, and they all looked both guarded and desperately curious.

"Who are you, what are you doing here, and why did you claim that you were on our side?" asked the man in the most elaborate fur coat, the man who must have been the leader.

"I need to learn waterbending," Aang started explaining, "And, as the Avatar, I was expecting a warmer welcome."

The man paled when Aang said the word 'Avatar', but quickly grew defensive again. "The Avatar? The Avatar has been dead for over a hundred years, you might want to think up a better cover story."

As a response, Aang glared at him and used his cuffed hands to create a sort of airblast that blew him fifteen feet into the sky. The look on the man's face was priceless when Aang landed softly on the saddle, hands now cuffed in front of him. "Can you please remove these? I can show you what I can do with waterbending, prove that I'm the Avatar, and we can go onto the Northern Tribe."

In a daze, the man turned the cuffs to water, and Aang used one of the simplistic forms that I taught him to bring water up in a small snake-like form and twirl it around his body. I have to admit, I wasn't the best or most patient of teachers. Once the man was satisfied, he spoke, "It is an honor, Avatar, to escort you to our city." And we were off.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

Chief Arnook can definitely throw quite the party. There is this huge celebration going on welcoming the Avatar and celebrating the Princess Yue's sixteenth birthday. I feel off saying her name, because the Moon Spirit's name is Yue, and usually people don't name their children after spirits, not directly. An acceptable name could be Yunee, or Yulie, but naming a child directly after a spirit can be taken as disrespectful. That is why you never run into any firebenders named Agni, or waterbenders named La, either. But no one here thinks it is odd at all. Anyway, Sokka has been making goo-goo eyes at her for hours, ever since he first saw her on the canal way on the way in. I overheard him asking her if she wanted to 'do an activity' together sometime. I don't know how that charmed her, but she giggled softly and said that she would love to.

Katara and Aang are more interested in watching the performing waterbenders. The Waterbending Master, their future teacher, was performing for the Avatar and the Princess with some of his more accomplished students, including the boy who I'd smacked on the head when we were fighting. From the announcing Waterbending Master Pakku did, it seems like his name is Timian, and he is a very good bender. He smiled at me when he was doing a water-ball, and I looked away, blush creeping up on my face. For the love of firebending, why am I acting so awkward? He's handsome, yes, he looks familiar, yes, but where is the blushing coming from? He has a strong face with thick eyebrows, and is wearing a blue scarf wrapped around his neck. When I close my eyes, I can see myself talking to another guy. He looks different then the waterbender, but close enough. He has a red scarf on, and I suddenly get a name… Mako. The waterbender looks like Mako.

"Mako," I say, trying the name out on my tongue, it feels familiar, like I've said it before.

"What was that?" Katara asked from her seat next to me.

"Mako. That waterbending boy up there looks like Mako," I smiled. I wasn't forgetting anything! I could remember his name still! Did that mean I could go home, and get my bending back?

"Who's Mako?" she asked, giving me a funny look; but as soon as she saw the grin spreading across my face, she understood and grinned, too. "You can remember? Everything?"

My face fell. I couldn't remember everything, just Mako's face. I couldn't tell her that Aang was going to defeat Fire Lord Ozai, or that the world would be free. For all I know, I could have been a prisoner in the Fire Nation that spans the world, but I doubt it. I just have a good feeling about Mako. "No, just his face and his name. But that's a start, isn't it?"

She looked at my hopeful face sadly, "Yea, it is."

Then, the performers finished with a watery flourish, and Katara and Aang began clapping their heads off. The three of us got out of our seats and went over to where the waterbenders were shaking hands. "Ahh, the Avatar," said Pakku as we walked up to him, "I hope you don't expect any special treatment, because I treat all my students the same. I expect you at the practice field at sunrise tomorrow, bright and early - don't be late." He walked off after that surprising statement, leaving the three of us staring after him in shock.

Katara was the one who spoke first, "Well, he certainly seems like a jerk."

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

You know Katara's comment last night, the one stating he was a jerk? Well, he is the supreme ruler of jerks. For the love of firebending, how on earth did the Northern Water Tribe establish that kind of a rule? Katara and I were walking towards a small structure in the middle of town on the canal, and we were extremely pissed off by it.

We had just gotten to the practice field, Katara, Aang, and I, when Pakku arrived. "I can't wait to learn from a _real_ waterbender! I'm going to become a real waterbender!" Katara was gushing, like she had for the past half an hour. I on the other hand, just wanted to get my bending back. I figure, with enough practice, the water should just start following my movements again.

Pakku shattered all hopes of learning again. "You girls don't honestly expect to be taught, do you?"

Katara was the first one to look shocked, "What?"

"I'm not teaching you two girls. The end," Pakku said as he turned away, walking a very confused and angered Aang to the other side of the field.

I stepped forward, "But, why?"

He stopped and turned around, "In our tribe, it is forbidden for women to use their waterbending to fight. Go to Yugoda, she should be in the healer's hut, and attempt to project your waterbending into something… useful," he finished distastefully.

Aang broke away from him. "If you won't teach them, you won't teach me," he said determinedly.

Pakku gave him an indifferent look, "Fine by me." He turned around and started walking off to the other end of the field by himself, leaving Aang in the middle of him and us.

"No, Aang," I said as I looked at his torn face, "You need to learn waterbending."

"Yea. Go and learn waterbending. Korra can keep teaching me," Katara ordered, and Aang turned around with a sad look and ran after that jerk of a waterbending master.

And that is how Katara and I ended up walking into Yugoda's hut an hour late for the healing lesson. She was gracious about it, as kind old women tend to be, and ordered Katara and I to sit down next to the ice body with water-canal things crisscrossing it. Katara sat down quickly next to Yugoda and a small child who looked to be four years younger than Katara, maybe six years younger than me. Yugoda smiled at me, and moved to the side, opening a spot next to her. "Sit,"

"I'll just watch, thanks," I said awkwardly as I back up against the wall.

She made a confused face, and asked, "But you came here to learn, didn't you?" The whole class of around ten including Katara was looking at me; they were all wondering what was going on in my head, Katara was wondering how I was going to explain this.

I reached up and scratched my head nervously. "I… I lost my bending a year ago. I just want to see if I can get it back." There it was. Out in the open. Up until then, the entire tribe must have assumed I was either a waterbender or a waterbender-wanna-be; the truth comes out.

Yugoda's face softened and she looked sympathetic, "Alright then, you may watch."

The lesson was fantastic, you could clearly see that Katara understood the material, and she was a naturally gifted healer, as shown by her burns out a Jeong Jeong's . After the class, during which I felt no waterbending revelation come upon me, Yugoda was talking to Katara. I waited to head over to their corner until every last small child had left the healer's hut, every single one of them giving me a sympathetic look as she left. Spirits, I hate it when people look at me as weak. I did catch the tail end of Katara and Yugoda's conversation, though.

"She left… anyway, I'm glad you are here," Yugoda finished and Katara smiled at her.

"We ready to go?" I asked Katara, and she nodded.

"Bye, Yugoda. Thanks for the lesson," she said as we left, looking over her shoulder at the smiling woman.

"What was that all about? Who left?" I questioned as we started walking down the canal way.

Katara gave me a wry smile, "Evidentially, my grandmother, Kanna, was born in the Northern Water Tribe, this was her engagement necklace from a man she didn't love," she said as she touched her blue necklace with her gloved hand. "She left the tribe and went south because she couldn't stand their sexist traditions."

I snorted, "She sounds _awfully_ familiar."

Katara beamed, "That's a good thing,"

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

We were all miserable that night. We met up in the little house we were allowed to use, and were all stretched out in our sleeping bags when everyone started complaining.

"Bending lessons are no fun without Katara in them, too."

"Be glad you get bending lessons, Aang, I don't get to learn to fight."

"And what am I, chop liver? Are bending lessons no fun without me either, or am I a fart to bend with?" I asked.

"You can't even bend," Sokka moaned, and I leaned over and slapped his face. He thought he could say that and get away with it? No way, not as long as there is ice at the North Pole.

"Tui and La, that was uncalled for, Sokka," Katara admonished. Tui and La? I've never heard that one before - must be a past thing.

"Well, I had a rotten day, too," he snapped as he pulled some snow off of the wall and held it to his face.

"And what was so rotten about your day?" I snapped right back, "You didn't go the whole day in a bending community, still wishing you could bend and tell everyone to stop giving you those pitiful looks."

"Princess Yue and I met on a bridge, and one minute she liked me, and the next minute she was running away. I didn't even say anything! I mean, how right is that?" Sokka finished with a wild hand gesture, "And if you guys are so keen on learning, then why doesn't Aang just teach you two whatever he learned in the day at night?"

Katara brightened, and her eyes lit up, "That's a fantastic idea! Everyone is happy!"

"I'm not happy," Sokka groaned.

I glared at him, "You're never happy, and right now, none of us really care," I said in my angriest voice. He deserves everything I give him for that comment about me not being able to bend. "Let's go!" I said turning towards Katara and Aang. This wasn't as good as my other plan, learn waterbending from a waterbending master who could bring my bending back, but learning waterbending from an Avatar who was learning from a waterbending master might just work, too.

We managed to find an out-of-the-way ramp down into the water, one that wasn't too high up or in the open, and Aang began teaching. And just for the record, Aang is about as good of a teacher as I am. I mean, I have no idea of how Katara managed to pick anything up from that; he was just demonstrating over and over again. But she was doing oddly well, and was very proud of herself. And she seemed to take it upon herself to add little awesome flourishes that would be hard for even me. And then the water started twirling around her, and she just stood in the center; that wasn't her bending. It was Pakku's, as revealed by his overly-dramatized making of ice spikes that stuck in around his feet. "Avatar. You have disrespected me, my city, and our customs by teaching the ancient art of waterbending to these females. You are no longer welcome as my student," he said in what must have been his angriest voice, because it seemed to ricochet off the icy walls of surrounding buildings and hit us again in the stomachs after he left.

"I… he…" Aang stuttered while staring into space, his eyes focusing on nothingness.

"I'm sorry," Katara whispered gently, and I'm not sure if she was talking to Pakku, who had left by now, or Aang, who seemed nonresponsive. And hey, I'd be, too, if my chances of learning waterbending were taken away from me and I had to fend for myself. I looked at the ice spikes in the balcony above us, they were sharp and vicious; not at all like I envisioned waterbending once I was able to do it again.

XXXxxxXXXxxxXXX

The next morning, we, Aang, Katara, and I, marched ourselves over to the audience hall of Chief Arnook to demand that Aang be accepted back into his lessons in that sexist cow-pig, Pakku. And what-do-you-know, the sexist cow-pig was actually in the room.

"You wish to be accepted back into Master Pakku's classes?" Arnook asked after Aang and Katara explained the situation to him, I just stood in the background so as not to ruin their good diplomacy skills.

"Yes, Chief, sir, I would be honored to, and will not disrespect your city's customs in the future," he was doing some serious buttering up, and it seemed like it was working decently well.

Arnook smiled down at the cow-pig in question, encouraging him to accept. It seemed that Pakku, however, couldn't let it be. "I will accept the Avatar into my classes again," he stated sternly, and Katara let out the breath she was holding, "When the two females in question apologize for their curiosity in the male-only art of fighting through waterbending, and vow that they will never again attempt to dabble in said art."

The. World. Stopped. Right. Then. And. There. He wanted _us_ to apologize? For wanting to waterbend? For the love of firebending, even the Fire Nation treated girls as mostly-equals. And let me tell you something, I was not going to stand for it. Even as I felt Katara bristling up beside me, I stepped forwards to look Pakku in the eye.

He gave me a little smirk, "Go on."

I took a deep breath, and closed my eyes, breaking the eye contact and tilting my head towards the floor. "I…" I paused, was I really going to go through with this, and forever ruin Aang's chance of learning waterbending. As I opened my eyes and looked back up into his gloating ones, I knew the answer. Yep. After all, I couldn't be _that bad_ of a teacher. I let my mouth twist into a wry smile as I glared up at him, "I will never apologize to you, you sexist cow-pig. If that is your opinion on female prowess, you deserve to be roasted alive by demonic firebenders," I paused, but not to think about what I was saying; to smile up at his astounded face as deviously as I possibly could. "And I'll be outside, just waiting to prove you wrong, you sour old man."

That felt really good. I walked out of there, loosening the dao swords on my back as I did so, but feeling kind of bad about it, too. Aang now had to learn from me, which shouldn't be a huge amount of fun, especially since I can't waterbend.

"What was that all about?" I heard someone ask as I sat down on the steps outside the audience hall with my arms crossed. It was Katara, who'd run out of the audience hall after me.

"What was that all about? Are you seriously asking me that question? He wanted me to not only admit that he was right, but vow never to use waterbending for fighting again. When I get home, I don't want the Spirits holding me to that vow," I snapped right back at her.

"Now Aang has to learn waterbending from you, and no offense, but you aren't the best teacher. And right now, it's all about Aang. I'm sure Tui and La will forgive you lying to make sure Aang learns waterbending," she tried to reason.

I looked up at her face, defiant, but once again confused by her use of the names Tui and La. Who in the name of waterbending is this Tui fellow? And why is he so frequently being mentioned with the Ocean Spirit? "Don't you dare tell me that you weren't thinking of doing the exact same thing," I spoke harshly.

She looked exasperated, "Well, yea, but I didn't exactly act on it, did I?"

"Is me acting on it a bad thing?" I snapped right back, and her face hardened.

"Yes, Korra, it is. You were stupid. Spirits, what is it with Avatars and just messing everything up?" she looked to the skies, like she was talking to the Spirits above.

I looked at her, making eye contact and letting her see my anger. "I am going to choose to ignore that one." Just behind her, I saw the doors opening, and someone coming out. Pakku.

"No, Korra, don't. You practically ruined Aang's chances-"

"But it isn't always all about Aang, is it? Sometimes, you matter, too, Katara. And now, if you'll excuse me, I have something to attend to," I said coolly as I got up, hands on the sheath at my hip.

I stood at the bottom of the stairs, waiting for the sexist cow-pig to finish stumbling down them for what seemed like an eternity; once he finally got to my level he just walked on past. He didn't even spare me a glance. And that pissed me off.

As he walked off to who-knows-where, I shouted at him, "What in the name of waterbending are you doing, you coward, walking away from a fight?"

He didn't stop at those words, either.

So, I drew my swords. The sound of metal on metal certainly seemed to show him I was serious, and he stopped walking. "Girl, it seems like you are just begging to be taught a lesson," he turned around slowly, his white hair catching the wind "And, lucky for you, I am more than happy to oblige."

And that was when it sunk into me exactly how deep I'd dug myself a hole. He pulled some water up from the ground, giving himself the jelly-arms I always despised. He wasn't much for battle chatter, so we didn't say much; he attacked, I defended. It wasn't much of a fight, either. He sent ice-snake after ice-snake crawling through the air towards my body, and it was all I could do to cut them out of the air. He knew that this was what I could defend against, and so he kept me hanging there, hacking at the strands of ice like my life and dignity depended on it. I was slowly losing my dignity. A crowd of people gathered to watch the expo on 'How to Beat Up a Non-Bender with Waterbending' , and some of them certainly seemed like they were enjoying it. I caught Timian's eyes, and he gave me as sympathetic look, even though we had never been formally introduced. I wish he was Mako. I just have a feeling that Mako, his red scarf blowing in the wind, would jump in and save me. But Timian wasn't Mako, and no one tried to help me.

After there were enough people in the main square, and he felt that I had been thoroughly humiliated, Pakku began to send ice creeping up my boots, freezing my feet to the ground. As I panicked over my loss of movement, he sent one of those nasty tendrils of ice and hit my back, causing me to lose my balance and topple to my knees. He simultaneously unfroze my feet as I fell, allowing me to fall without breaking an ankle, and froze my knees, and shins to the ice below me as soon as they touched. My arms weren't far behind, and soon I was frozen spread-eagle on the ground, my blades still clutched in freezing fingers.

"And this is why females do not fight. They always lose," he preached to the crowd as most of them gave me sad, sympathetic looks. I could practically see their thoughts written on their faces, "Look at that foolish girl. She thought she could face a waterbender when she can't even bend." He must have positioned me like this on purpose, so I could see the crowd's disapproving faces. Then, much to my delight and surprise, a snowball hit that cow-pig, Pakku, on the back of the head. It was followed by a twirling water spout that wrapped around his torso, and I knew, without a doubt, that it was Katara finally standing up for her right to waterbend. It was on.

I couldn't see much of their fight, but the part I did see was epic. And when I say epic, I mean epic. Pakku was dodging flying ice-disks, and getting his hair trimmed by them. They kept moving, though, and soon all I could see was the astonished faces of the crowd as they moved out of the way of a spurt of water. I could hear Katara and Pakku sliding around on ice, and the collapse of water as it returned to the ground when it wasn't being bended anymore. At one point there was a huge sound of something big, tumbling, and the audience's eyes flew open; a light snow began to fall for a few seconds, and I realized that Katara had blown the ice containers that were stacked up at one end of the courtyard into tiny snowflakes. "You. Can't. Knock. Me. Down," Katara yelled and there was the sound of ice cracking. I tried to move my head, but I was still stuck here, frozen in the ice. I was extremely proud to hear the sound of cheering from the crowd, all female voices standing up for their right to waterbend how they wanted.

But setting Katara, a girl who knew practically nothing about bending, up against a waterbending master like Pakku was never a good idea; it really was a miracle that she'd lasted this long. I must be a better teacher then everyone thought. Then the grunts of her failings began to come out. She was straining, I could hear it every time she cried out in pain or frustration, and she backed up so she was right beside my face.

She was beat up. Her hair had fallen loose and her cheeks had turned a flaming red as she attempted to deflect all of Pakku's blows; she looked terrible. She glanced down for a second and caught my eye, giving me a look of pure defeat and humiliation. That glance was a mistake; in that second, Pakku launched his ending attack, ice spikes. They landed in a circle around her, trapping her hands and rendering her unable to bend. I practically growled in frustration, and I could feel my whole body heating up. Katara practically screamed, "Where are you going? I'm not done with you yet!" and I could only assume that Pakku was walking away with that haughty look on his face.

"I think we are done here," he replied smoothly, and the crowd in front of me cowered at his angry glare. My whole body was vibrating, it felt like my anger had seeped from my soul to my body, and for some reason the ice holding me to the ground was gone.

I took a deep breath and got up, my whole being buzzing. "I'm not done with you, Pakku," I felt myself saying, like my brain was not connected to my mouth; my voice echoed in my head, filling me with confidence.

He turned to me, surprised at my ability to get up off the ground. "Oh, really?"

"Yea. Really," I said as I stripped off my gloves and heavy winter coat, shivering slightly as the cool air touched my burning skin. I was just in a tank-top now, and I should be freezing, but I just absorbed the cold; it felt good.

He tensed up, like he was about to begin bending, but I reacted first. Dropping my swords to the ice, I acted on instinct, pulling my hands up into the air and clenching them into fists. And miracle of miracles, I felt a push in my gut as the water beneath him melted and rose, forming a giant column of water that constantly pushed upward. I looked at Pakku's face and smirked; then I realized I was bending.

It had just come so naturally, like I'd been bending for the past couple months, no problem. I didn't even realize that I had been bending until I saw Pakku's surprised and angry face. I dropped the column the minute I realized it, leaving him on the ground, dripping and cursing. I, on the other hand, just stared at my hands. I had bended. I could bend, Yue and La I could bend!

Pakku, it seemed, was not interested in sharing my happiness, as it took three seconds for him to recover and send a gush of water my way. I ducked and rolled quickly, then stood up as it went over where my head and just been. I took the water, ripping it out of Pakku's control and circling it around my body once before sending it back at him. It was perfect, and I was elated. I was on top of the world as I grabbed my swords from the ground and started to bend water around them, moving through waterbending poses with the swords manipulating the water for me. It was beautiful. I felt graceful, but he was fighting back.

We whirled and ducked, twisting and molding the water into the desirable shapes and forms. My body instinctively knew what to do when he sent a projectile of water, when to dodge and when to block were seemingly punched into my memory; but the longer blasts of water were harder. Once he picked up on that, the battle went from hard to crazy hard – like taking on the Fire Lord hard. But despite the sweat trickling down every inch of exposed skin, I was on top of the world.

He shot a longer water blast, a straight gush that I failed to block and took me right in the chest; it didn't stop. It kept going, pushing me back and back until I was flat against the wall, trying to duck and escape the water hitting my body. It was getting in my eyes and I was forced to shut them, which blinded me and didn't let me see whatever he threw at my head.

**Katara's Point of View**

That cow-pig Pakku just doesn't give up. He and Korra, the miraculous waterbending Korra, fought for quite a while before he pulled that geyser trick on her. I knew the theory behind geysers, like the one Korra trapped Pakku in earlier. The vertical geysers take a lot of concentration, moving water up to a certain point, then letting it fall off the sides where you picked it up to resume the upward motion, but Pakku's continuous stream was even trickier. It was like he was feeding a rope through Korra's chest; he would thrust one hand forward, while bringing the other up with the rest of a cord of water. Not fair at all. Cow-pig.

After he had abandoned the geyser, he brought up a chunk of ice no bigger than my fist and slammed it into Korra's poor head. Jerk. Her eyes were closed! But anyone and everyone in the crowd could see the sweat dripping down his face, the battle against a mere girl was taxing him, and he knew it. He took a big breath as he walked towards me; I did my best to look defiant. "It seems I misjudged you. You both," he said. He had started the sentence staring at Korra's unconscious frame, but turned to me at the last phrase. "I will accept you as a student, Katara. It doesn't look like Korra needs the training," he smiled as he said those words, those beautiful words that indicated that he had gotten over the sexist customs of his tribe. It wasn't a real smile, but sort of a wry 'I admit you were right' smile, one that packed just enough emotion into it to seem real. As a response I stared up at him, my thick hair falling in front of my eyes as I did, and I had to shake it out of the way; I was still imprisoned by the ice-spikes.

"Thank you, Pakku," I stated, looking into his icy blue eyes that were several shades lighter than mine. He gave me a dissatisfied look as he motioned for his spikes to drop to the snowy ground, "Thank you, Master Pakku," I said with conviction, and bowed my head.

The bowing of the head maybe was a little too much because my mother's necklace, the ties loosened from my hard-fought battle with Pakku, fell off my neck at that movement and to the ground. As I bent down to pick it up, I heard Pakku gasp. A small geyser of water shot out of the ground, sending it flying into his waiting hands. I stood up straight as fast as I could, not wanting to seem like I was bowing to the man who had pissed me off no more than an hour before. Pakku's voice was strained as he spoke, looking more at the necklace than me, "Where did you get this?"

I took immediately to the defensive, "Give it back. It was my mother's."

He had this lost look in his eyes as he stared at the engraving on the sapphire stone, "I made this necklace. For the love of my life." He what? How did his necklace make its way into my mother's hands? That cow-pig better not be planning on keeping it. He whispered the last few words, "For Kanna."

I recoiled in shock, Kanna? As in my Gramma Kanna-From-The-Northern-Tribe-But-She-Left Kanna? He was the man my grandmother was supposed to marry. "Kanna is my gramma. She left because of your tribe's silly sexist customs, and gave that necklace to my mom." I held out my hand, and he gently set the stone in the center of my palm.

"I will teach you."

We carried Korra's unconscious body to our temporary house in the downtown area of the tribe, and laid her on the bed. She was in some sort of Spirit-World induced slumber and wouldn't respond to Yugoda's healing water. I wandered the streets until then, trying to find some sort of a shop I could go into or a library where I could learn to read better (my father taught me and Sokka, but he wasn't the best of reader's himself). There was nothing. Absolutely nothing. Despite it's grandeur, the Northern Tribe was pretty much all practical; there was the building where seal leather that was harvested from hunted seals became our warm fur coats, and there was the hunter's lodge, where a group of waterbenders had just returned from a successful hunt. There were no pleasure shops, no little out-of-the-way boutiques, no bars or pubs or even restaurants in the Northern Tribe. It was really just like the Southern at heart, just over glorified and with waterbenders. I just walked around until dark, where I returned to the house to find a very upset Sokka and a completely out of it Korra. Aang was still running around bothering Chief Arnook or Master Pakku, and wouldn't be back for a while.

"Why? Why does the love of my sorry life have to be… be…" Sokka griped for the umpteenth time, "ENGAGED! She's engaged!"

"Yes, Sokka, we've established that," I muttered back at him; I was annoyed by the constant whining even though I was trying to be more sympathetic.

"I'm going to rip the throats out of whoever-"

"Whoa, there, buddy," I called out, cutting off that undoubtedly graphic statement, "Let's not threaten anybody's death. That is most certainly not the way to get on Arnook's good side."

"You're right! I need to suck up to Arnook more! I can just think of-"

"No butt-kissing. That is not the way a Southern Water Tribe Warrior would act, Sokka. Maybe a Northern one who wants to marry the princess, but not a Southern one." He just needs a boost of sisterly confidence.

"You are right yet again! Maybe if I-"

I sighed and turned my attention to the waterbending scroll I'd received from Pakku after today's escapade. He told me to study up on it, and I'm glad he gave me one with plenty of pictures. Learning to read better officially goes on my list of things to do.

* * *

**Long time since my last post... blame life and stuff. And Criminal Minds. I'm becoming... god forbid it... obsessed. Eeek. There. I said it. I have obsession difficulties. Anywho... There it is. Korra got her waterbending back :)... but the key question is... will she keep it? :O You have no idea how many times I rewrote this chapter. I was going to have her kick Pakku's sorry butt... but I couldn't bring myself to. In the original, she does, but it seems like I forgot Pakku was a Waterbending Master, and he doesn't go down easily. Uh-oh for Korra. So I rewrote it a couple times. In a few Korra began firebending... lets just say that I couldn't go may places with that. **

**And for Review Responses...  
**

**_Engineer4Ever- _Thank you as always :) You are such a great supporter, and very good at inferring what will happen next :)  
**


End file.
